In an early morning address to the American public, President Donald Trump declared a war against the poor through welfare reform.
Trump announced in his address that there were “plans on healthcare, plans on infrastructure, and plans on welfare reform… soon after taxes” are reformed. In a move to pander to Republican voters, the president emphasized welfare and insisted that welfare reform is “desperately needed” in the country.
Pres. Trump says "desperately needed" welfare reform effort will follow push on taxes. "We're looking very strongly at welfare reform." pic.twitter.com/j3GDEyQJsp
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) November 20, 2017
Since October, President Trump has been pushing welfare reform to the front of his agenda. In a report from The Washington Times from October 16th, the announcement for welfare reform came as a relative surprise. During his campaign, Trump rarely mentioned welfare amid other topics he considered to be far more significant, more specifically healthcare and tax reform.
Great numbers on Stocks and the Economy. If we get Tax Cuts and Reform, we'll really see some great results!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2017
Even throughout his presidency, Trump has consistently tweeted and spoken about tax reform. Over the past months in particular, the president has tweeted and pushed for tax breaks that would benefit higher income households and millionaires such as himself.
Big vote tomorrow in the House. Tax cuts are getting close!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2017
Just this Thursday, the Washington Post reported the House of Representatives passed the tax reform bill with not one Democrat vote, a huge win for House Republicans. The president congratulated himself and the House of Representatives for his plans to “deliver historic tax cuts for the American people.”
Congratulations to the House of Representatives for passing the #TaxCutsandJobsAct — a big step toward fulfilling our promise to deliver historic TAX CUTS for the American people by the end of the year! https://t.co/8FjefMj6hh
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2017
It seems now, with healthcare reform at a stalemate and tax reform having successfully passed, the president is now looking for welfare to be his new pet issue. As a report from MSNBC astutely pointed out, although the fight against welfare has not been an imminent issue, Trump and his team nonetheless appear to be laying the groundwork for it to be a forefront issue.
The Washington Post reported:
‘Trump thanked party leaders, expressed optimism about the Senate bill, and said he believed that Congress ought to move to “welfare reform” after completing the tax bill, according to several members in the room.’
In an interview with CNBC, Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, further pushed the welfare issue, stating:
‘Look, the president on the economic front laid out three core principles. Number one was [regulatory] reform, number two was taxes and number three was infrastructure. We’re working our way methodically through [regulatory] reform, taxes and infrastructure. I think when he gets done with those, I think welfare is going to come up. That’s our near-term economic agenda right now.’
Trump has since moved to speak publicly about the welfare issue on multiple occasions before this morning’s address. The president and his team are pushing welfare into the same conversation as social-insurance programs like Medicare.
Featured Image is a screenshot from the video
