Trump’s budget: Medicaid, EPA and more spending cuts that could impact NYC

May 24--The Trump administration released budget documents on Tuesday, outlining a plan to slash $3.6 trillion in federal spending over the next decade.

Although the proposal in its current form is unlikely to pass in Congress, the documents make Trump's budget priorities clear.

Aside from some new spending for the fiscal year 2018, including a $54 billion hike in military spending, the budget documents feature major cuts to government agencies like the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

Mayor Bill de Blasio took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon to voice his opposition to Trump's plan.

"The president's budget is clearly written by millionaires and billionaires for millionaires and billionaires," the mayor tweeted.

De Blasio had blasted the Trump administration back in March after the president's preliminary budget blueprint was released, saying the plan would have a "huge negative impact" on New York City. The budget could affect upcoming transit projects and counterterrorism efforts in the city, among other issues, according to the mayor.

Scroll down to find out where some of the issues most important to New Yorkers fell on Trump's list of budget priorities.

Health care and Medicaid

Trump's budget proposal includes a cut of more than $800 billion to the Medicaid program over the next 10 years.

The Medicaid reform plan seeks to "empower states to innovate and prioritize Medicaid dollars to the most vulnerable populations," per the documents

But de Blasio denounced the proposed cuts on Twitter: "I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that yes, people will die from these cuts."

If the proposal goes through as is, the city and state's entire health care system could essentially be thrown into complete "disarray," said Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives for the advocacy group Community Service Society.

"The budget proposal is ludicrous on its face. The math doesn't add up," Benjamin said, adding that there was "no way" the system could handle over a trillion dollars in cuts without the people of New York being negatively affected.

"If it were to go through, it would be nothing short of armageddon for kids, seniors, working and low-income people," she added.

Medicaid isn't the only health care issue on the chopping block. The city's first lady, Chirlane McCray, released a statement slamming the budget's lack of funding for mental health care.

"In the midst of the opioid epidemic, President Trump promised that he would connect those struggling with addiction to the treatment that will help them recover their lives. Instead, he proposes to break that promise and devastate our families," McCray said in the statement. "These brutal cuts to mental health care, which has never been adequately funded, will cause widespread pain, put the lives of people in recovery at risk and exacerbate root challenges in education, public safety, criminal justice and homelessness."

Environmental protections

Funding cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency are still a top priority for the Trump administration in this latest spending proposal, which looks to slash the agency's budget by 30.4 percent.

The EPA's net budget for the fiscal year 2017 was set at $8.2 billion, but if Trump gets his way, the agency's budget for 2018 would be roughly $5.7 billion -- a $2.5 billion drop in funding. Experts have suggested the move could have a negative impact on New York, from its drinking water to air quality and beyond.

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, said Trump is "living up to the promise of dismantling the EPA."

"If Congress doesn't protect their constituents and reject the president's plan, the results are clear -- fewer cops on the beat, fewer doctors and scientists to keep people from getting sick, and more New Yorkers dying because of dirty air and water," Iwanowicz said in a statement.

Counterterrorism

New York City stands to lose up to $190 million in counterterrorism funding under Trump's most recent budget proposal, the mayor reiterated on Tuesday.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill has said proposed cuts to state and local grant funding budgeted under the Department of Homeland Security could impact the NYPD. The potentially lost federal counterterrorism money could be used to provide officers with tools and resources for extreme emergencies such as bomb threats, he said.

A request for comment from the NYPD on the new budget proposal was not immediately returned.

The spending plan also cuts all funding to a Homeland Security program known as "countering violent extremism," which provides grants to communities to counter radicalism through outreach.

The program, whose roots go back to the Obama administration, has come under scrutiny by the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans who favor law enforcement, rather than community outreach, to fight what they see as a growing Islamic extremist threat.

At the beginning of the administration, some White House and DHS officials considered changing the name of the program to "countering Islamic extremism," and refocusing the funding only on grants that dealt with the Islamic community, not other communities that may have extremist views like white supremacists.

The funding cuts proposed by the budget would reduce the $50 million currently allocated for the program down to zero for fiscal year 2018.

Infrastructure

Although the budget proposal touts a target of $1 trillion in infrastructure investments -- to be met by a combination of new federal funding and incentivized nonfederal funding -- transportation advocates in New York were quick to point out the Trump administration has also proposed cutting infrastructure programs.

"At one time, the president talks about a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan and proposes cutting the programs we actually use to fund infrastructure," John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, said in a statement. "The words and the reality don't match."

When Trump released his budget blueprint in March, de Blasio suggested that, in addition to major projects like a Second Avenue subway expansion, Vision Zero safety projects would suffer.

The city has received about $100 million in federal funding for Vision Zero projects in the past three years through the U.S. Department of Transportation's programs like New Starts and TIGER grants. Under Trump's budget blueprint from March, New Starts would be dramatically reduced and the TIGER grants program would be cut completely.

With Reuters and Vincent Barone

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