Perez: Trump’s proposed budget cuts ‘a disaster’

The new chairman of the Democratic National Committee said President Trump will harm ordinary Americans if he succeeds in making the major cuts to federal agencies expected in his first budget.

Trump will reportedly demand significant cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and State Department to fund a boost in military spending.

“Donald Trump’s budget will no doubt be terrific for people who can afford to spend their weekends at luxury resorts like Mar-a-Lago, and it would be a disaster for hardworking Americans struggling to get ahead,” Tom Perez said in a statement Monday, jabbing at Trump’s private resort in Palm Beach, Fla. “Budgets are so much more that a compilation of dollar figures — they are an expression of our values.”

{mosads}“Today, it’s clearer than ever that Donald Trump’s values leave out working families, their security, prosperity, health or wellbeing. Don’t be surprised if he holds the signing ceremony somewhere on the back nine next to his special-interest golf buddies,” Perez added.

Perez, who served as former President Barack Obama’s Labor secretary, said Trump’s budget would reward the rich at the expense of the middle class.

“In Trump’s vision of America, corporate polluters are allowed to reap profits without repercussion for poisoning the air we breathe and the water we drink, and Wall Street billionaires get a gift-wrapped tax break while ordinary families are left in the lurch,” he said.

“Worse still, this administration is refusing to stand by Trump’s campaign pledge that he won’t dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — one of his central promises to America’s middle class.”

The Trump administration is proposing a budget to increase defense spending by $54 billion by cutting spending elsewhere.

The White House is sending a topline budget proposal reflecting those figures to federal agencies on Monday afternoon, according to an Office of Budget and Management (OBM) official.

Reports emerged earlier Monday that Trump will instruct Cabinet and agency officials to prepare budget requests for a first outline expected March 13.

Trump will purportedly seek major cuts to the EPA’s climate change programs and foreign aid through the State Department.

OBM officials have not specified where Trump’s overall cuts would occur, but reports have said State’s budget may be slashed by up to 30 percent.