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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Study: Trump's Math Doesn't Add Up on Food-Stamp Cuts

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Friday, June 2, 2017   

DENVER – Even a 25-percent cut to SNAP - enough to leave thousands more in Colorado hungry - can't make the White House budget math add up, according to a new analysis

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says President Trump's first budget would slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamps) by nearly $200 billion. For Colorado, that would mean an annual cut of $200 million for food aid for families.

Jacob Leibenluft, a senior advisor at the Center, calls the budget "Robin Hood in reverse" - it steals from the poor to give to the rich.

"Historically deep cuts in nutrition programs and programs for people with disabilities; and at the same time, historically large tax cuts for the wealthiest and large corporations," he says.

White House budget officials argue the cuts are needed to reduce the budget deficit by spurring economic growth. But Leibenluft says the Trump administration is overstating what the plan would do and using "fake math."

Congress has the final word on most budget items.

Leibenluft says the theory is "iffy" that tax cuts will pay for themselves through more revenue from faster growth. Then, he says, the budget even counts that added revenue twice, once to offset the tax cuts.

"But then, use that growth a second time around to further reduce the deficit," he explains. "So, 'double count' growth that many people would say wouldn't even be created by the tax plan in the first place."

He describes it as a budget illusion, a magic trick to hide tax cuts for the wealthy.

"Even with incredibly deep cuts to programs that support health and nutrition, they can't get even close to a balanced budget, and this really hides that basic fact," he adds.

He points out the SNAP cuts would land hard on working families in areas that supported Trump.


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