What are Federal Funded Programs?
Federal funded programs are programs that help people and families that are under privileged with assistance on necessities like food and healthcare. Usually these programs are used as a crutch for families and individuals in vulnerable situations until they can help themselves. Some popular programs such as Medicaid, NSLP (National School Lunch Programs), Childhood Cancer Research, Welfare, and food stamps, help many families receive necessary medical services as well as food on the table. These are all made possible through federal funding that comes from taxes.
Why He Did it
Trump has chosen to freeze federal spending because he believes that this money is being wasted, and has expressed it, saying, “We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse”. Although it is true that some people do abuse these benefits to collect money that they do not need, the majority of people receiving money and services from government funded programs are underprivileged families that truly need it for the sake of their livelihood. He has insinuated in the past that undocumented immigrants were receiving benefits, which is impossible because to receive benefits one would need American documents. White Americans actually make up a bigger percentage of those who use these benefits, with a statistic from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) a government funded program that shows what races make up the recipients: White: about 37 percent; African American: 26 percent; Hispanic: 16 percent.
How Will This Impact Low Income Families?
People depend a lot on programs like these to get food on the table and have a roof over their families heads, so there are risks that stopping these programs can flip people’s lives upside down. Additionally, after talking about how he had worked his way through school himself—implying that these children should also be working and not just sitting at home—GOP lawmaker Rich McCormick was asked about how he feels about taking away school lunches from vulnerable kids, stating, “Think about where kids really need to be”. He also states that kids should be working and thinking about their future “not how they are going to be sponging off the government”. The children relying on free lunches range from ages 5-17 and with the minimum working age in California being 14 years, this isn’t a logical solution. 70% of people relying on these benefits work full time and still can’t afford to support themselves. Shouldn’t the solution be to raise the minimum wage?