One of the first assaults against middle-class and low-income Americans is in the works before President-elect Donald Trump even takes office. On the campaign trail, Trump promised repeatedly that he would leave Medicare alone and said it worked in its current form. However, Trump and the Republican Congress are gearing up for drastic cuts to the program.Social Security and Medicare
Trump's website says his administration will work to "modernize" Medicare and allow more "flexibility" for Medicaid. This is a death knell for these programs and is part of his plan to privatize and dismantle Medicare, making it voucher-based, and Medicaid's demise isn't far behind.
A news release from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare reports that House Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX), at the end of the lame duck Congress, introduced legislation that would slash earned Social Security benefits. His Social Security Reform Act of 2016 would harm the nearly 60 million Americans who currently depend on Social Security as well as future beneficiaries, the article explained.
Johnson’s bill:
- Cuts Social Security benefits by one third.
- Raises the retirement age from 67 to 69.
- Changes the benefit-computation formula in a way that cuts benefit amounts.
- Cuts Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs)
Taxes
His tax plans include changes that will hurt middle- and low-income families. It is estimated that roughly 7.9 million families with children would pay higher taxes under his proposals. About 5.8 million are led by single parents. An additional 2.1 million are married couples. This according to Lily Batchelder, a visiting fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
In an article in the Washington Post, Batchelder said that currently, a single parent with $75,000 in income and two children can claim a head of household deduction of $9,300, plus three personal exemptions. Those steps would reduce the household’s taxable income by $21,450, to $53,550.
Trump’s plan would more than double the standard deduction to $15,000. But that change would be outweighed by his elimination of personal exemptions and head-of-household status. So the family’s taxable income would be $60,000, and their tax bill would be $2,440 more than it is now.
A married couple with four children and income of $50,000 would absorb a tax increase of $1,090 because of their loss of personal exemptions.
Trump’s advisers deny that he will raise taxes on middle-income Americans. Stephen Miller, his top policy adviser, said Trump would provide tax-free child care savings accounts and other provisions to enable some families to reduce taxes.
But Batchelder’s analysis found that those provisions wouldn’t be enough to offset the plan’s other elements that would increase taxes for some middle income households.
A married couple with four children and income of $50,000 would absorb a tax increase of $1,090 because of their loss of personal exemptions.
Trump’s advisers deny that he will raise taxes on middle-income Americans. Stephen Miller, his top policy adviser, said Trump would provide tax-free child care savings accounts and other provisions to enable some families to reduce taxes.
But Batchelder’s analysis found that those provisions wouldn’t be enough to offset the plan’s other elements that would increase taxes for some middle income households.
The top 1 percent will get 47 percent of the benefits of Trump's policies, while the bottom 60 percent will get 10 percent. Large numbers of working-class taxpayers will see tax increases.
Women's Reproductive Rights
Trump and VP-Elect Mike Pence want to ban abortions even in the case of rape or incest. This is coming from Trump, who took five different positions on abortion in three days and said we should "punish women who get abortions," and Pence, who backed and signed an Indiana bill, now blocked by a federal court, that would have required women to hold funerals for their aborted fetuses and banned abortions sought for fetal abnormalities.Ohio has already put forth a "heartbeat bill" that, if signed by Gov. John Kasich, would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks' gestation. For years, Kasich, leading Republican senators and Ohio Right to Life have cited its unconstitutionality as their reason for opposing the heartbeat measure. This move will block access to abortion before most women even know they are pregnant. Ohio legislators also just passed a bill that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
LGBT
In a recent article in the Huffington Post, Pence was called perhaps one of the most anti-LGBTQ evangelical Christian political crusaders to serve in Congress and as governor of a state. Long before he signed the anti-LGBTQ “religious liberty” law in Indiana last year, he supported “conversion therapy” as a member of Congress, and later, as a columnist and radio host, he gave a speech in which he said that marriage equality would lead to “societal collapse,” and called homosexuality “a choice.” Stopping gays from marrying wasn’t biased, he said, but was rather about compelling “God’s idea.”
During his campaign, Trump promised religious extremists that he would overturn marriage equality. Mike Pence, as Dominic Holden at Buzzfeed points out, has already said that he and Trump plan to withdraw federal guidance to the states issued by the Obama administration protecting transgender students.
Pretty much all of Trump's cabinet picks oppose LGBT rights. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Tom Price, pegged to head Health and Human Services ... all have opposed LGBT rights either through their votes in Congress or through funneling money to conservative groups that oppose LGBT rights.
Cabinet Picks
These are just a few examples of Trump's real promise for America ... his vision of what our America should be. The rest of Trump's incoming cabinet are a sign of the New World Order that Trump is putting into place.
DeVos is against public schools ... an education secretary that opposes public schools. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a bigot, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is an Islamophobe, Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon is an alt-right racist, Ben Carson as Housing and Urban Development Secretary ... a man who ran for president and then said he didn't want any part of politics. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is a close ally of the fossil fuel industry who no doubt will help Trump fulfill his promise to dismantle the agency. Then, just for fun, you have Linda McMahon, from the World Wrestling federation, for Small Business Administration, and Andrew Pudzer, Labor Secretary, who heads up the Hardee's fast food chain.
And now Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO, who has close business ties to Russian President Vladamir Putin, is going to be Secretary of State?
Anyone who can't see the writing on the wall needs glasses. Those who doubted that Trump was serious about his radical views during the campaign should see by now that he wasn't joking.
