Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 3-15-19

White House And Political News
'Dead On Arrival': Democrats Dismiss Trump Budget Plan With $8.6B For Wall
Donald Trump’s latest budget request, which de- mands billions of dollars for a border wall at the expense of social safety nets and envi- ronmental protections, was dismissed on Monday as “dead on arrival” and “breathtaking in its degree of cruelty”.
Trump’s budget would also increase defense spend- ing while cutting domestic programmes by 5%, or $2.7tn over 10 years: higher than any administration in history. This is intended to curb the national debt, cur- rently more than $22tn, a record level.
The president unveiled a 2020 plan that includes $8.6bn for a wall on the bor- der with Mexico, signalling his intent to reignite a politi- cal fight that has already led to a record 35-day partial government shutdown.
Budgets released by the White House have little chance of passing intact and tend to be statements of in- tent, starting points for nego- tiations with Congress.
Democrats gave Trump’s
Copies of Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget on Capitol Hill in Wash- ington Monday.
plan short shrift. Chuck Schumer, the Senate mi- nority leader, said: “The Trump administration’s lat- est budget proposal is a gut- punch to the American middle class and a handout to the wealthiest few and powerful special interests that would worsen income inequality. Its proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and social security, as well as nu- merous other middle-class programs, are devastating, but not surprising.”
Bernie Sanders, a mem- ber on the Senate budget
committee and a Democratic candidate for president, said: “The Trump budget is breathtaking in its degree of cruelty and filled with broken promises.
“This is a budget for the military industrial complex, for corporate CEOs, for Wall Street and for the billionaire class. It is dead on arrival. We don’t need billions of dol- lars for a wall that no one wants. We need a budget that works for all Americans, not just Donald Trump and his billionaire friends at Mar-a- Lago.”
Michelle Obama’s High School Honors Her Achievements In The Best Way
Michelle Obama’s high school, Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, is nam- ing its new athletic center in her honor, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Joyce Kenner, the school’s current principal, said that Obama was shocked when she told her the news.
“She just had the biggest smile on her face, I think she was just shocked that we had even thought of her,” Ken- ner said. “Honestly, getting an opportunity to be in her presence twice. ...I didn’t re- alize how humble she really is.”
Obama graduated from the school in 1981. She vis- ited the school in November
MICHELLE OBAMA
to talk to students and pro- vided them with copies of chapters from her newly re- leased autobiography.
New York Charges Manafort With 16 Crimes; If Convicted, Trump Can’t Pardon Him
Paul J. Manafort, Pres- ident Trump’s former cam- paign chairman, has been charged in New York with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies, the Manhattan dis- trict attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said Wednes- day, an effort to ensure he will still face prison time if Mr. Trump pardons him for his federal crimes.
News of the indictment came shortly after Mr. Man- afort was sentenced to his second federal prison term in two weeks; he now faces a combined sentence of more than seven years for tax and bank fraud and conspiracy in two related cases brought by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller, III.
The president has broad power to issue pardons for federal crimes, but has no such authority in state cases.
While Mr. Trump has not said he intends to pardon his former campaign chairman, he has often spoken of his power to pardon and has de- fended Mr. Manafort on a
Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chair- man, has been indicted on new fraud charges in New York.
number of occasions, calling him a “brave man.”
The new state charges against Mr. Manafort are contained in a 16-count in- dictment that alleges a year- long scheme in which he falsified business records to obtain millions of dollars in loans, Mr. Vance said in a news release after the federal sentencing.
“No one is beyond the law in New York,” he said, adding that the investigation by the prosecutors in his of- fice had “yielded serious criminal charges for which
the defendant has not been held accountable.”
The indictment grew out of an investigation that began in 2017, when the Manhattan prosecutors began examining loans Mr. Manafort re- ceived from two banks.
Last week, a grand jury hearing evidence in the case voted to charge Mr. Man- afort with residential mort- gage fraud, conspiracy, falsifying business records and other charges. A lawyer for Mr. Manafort could not immediately be reached for comment.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL-BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2019