Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) released the following statement after President Trump submitted his Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request, which includes a demand for $8.6 billion in new border wall funding:
"The President's Budget Request for the coming fiscal year is not worth the paper it's printed on. Proposing a record-smashing $4.75 trillion budget that relies on blatantly dishonest gimmicks, the President's request embraces trillion dollar deficits for years to come and sets our country on an unsustainable path. Once again, the President has failed the American people.
"The Office of Management and Budget has described this proposal as a "return to fiscal sanity' and "reining in reckless Washington spending.' I don't know what budget the Administration is looking at, but it is certainly not this one.
"As I have said in the past, a Presidential budget is a statement of values. President Trump has made it clear that he would cut trillions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, and other anti-poverty programs, and trillions more from education, healthcare, housing, and environmental protections. The Trump budget proposes another massive tax cut for the wealthy and demands $8.6 billion more for a wasteful border wall that Congress has rejected time and time again, proving once more that the President cares more about divisive campaign promises than the real needs of American families.
"Our nation faces many challenges that the President could choose to address responsibly: the gun violence epidemic, the climate crisis, or the pressing need for affordable, accessible healthcare. Instead, after forcing a government shutdown that harmed hundreds of thousands of federal employees, jeopardized national security, and cost our country billions of dollars, this budget is nothing more than a partisan wish-list that will be flatly rejected."