Trump is set to send a rescission package to Congress, impacting the CHIP programme
Courting controversy since his inauguration in January 2017, President Trump is set to announce his decision to request up to $15bn in spending cuts from Congress this week.
The spending will come from leftover funding from previous years, in areas such as over $100mn allocated to natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and $250mn reserved from the Ebola epidemic, Democrats are outraged at reports that up to $7bn will be from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Senior officials have strongly stated that such cuts will not impact current successful programs, but the decision has come under fire.
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“It appears that sabotaging our health care system to the detriment of middle-class families wasn’t enough for President Trump and Republicans; now they’re going after health care dollars that millions of children rely on, especially during outbreaks of the flu and other deadly illnesses,” commented US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
Through the move the $1.3 trillion spending bill will remain unchanged, Fox News reports, but will eliminate wasteful spending.
Whilst House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has described the rescission package to “a much-needed spring cleaning,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee added: "We’ll look at it and see. If it’s frivolous stuff that we can get rid of and save the taxpayer money, we ought to do it."