MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to take on government waste. He has even tasked Elon Musk and others with a mandate to slash spending that has anti-poverty advocates worried. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that one likely target for cuts is the country's social safety net.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: President Trump's first administration proposed sweeping cuts to federal aid for food, rent, healthcare, utilities and lots more. It called such programs wasteful and ineffective. But Congress did not pass those cuts. Peggy Bailey is with the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
PEGGY BAILEY: So there was a lot of chaos at the beginning of the first term, and there were more moderates in the Senate.
LUDDEN: Pushback was bipartisan. Late in his term, Trump tried executive action to restrict aid, but that also did not get far. Bailey and others think this time will be different.
BAILEY: We do anticipate some pretty significant budget fights.
LUDDEN: For one thing, there will be pressure to offset Trump's promised tax cuts with lower spending. Then there's Project 2025. The policy book by Trump allies lays out detailed plans to shrink the safety net, and congressional Republicans have continued to propose such cuts. They, like Trump, say this could push people toward self-sufficiency.
BAILEY: This is all part of an agenda that is much more organized than it was the first time.
LUDDEN: Bob Greenstein with the non-partisan Brookings Institution recently analyzed all these suggested cuts.
BOB GREENSTEIN: One of the things they really focus on is narrowing who's eligible for these programs.
LUDDEN: For example, SNAP food aid would be limited to those around or below the official poverty line and cut off for those who make more.
GREENSTEIN: The irony of that is that among the people who would be hurt most seriously are working-class families, the very people who are now part of his political base.
LUDDEN: Not everyone thinks that'll happen. Kevin Corinth is with the conservative American Enterprise Institute and was an economic adviser in Trump's White House.
KEVIN CORINTH: I would be surprised if there were substantial budget cuts actually enacted.
LUDDEN: Sure, he says, there may be Republican appetite for rolling back some things, like the Biden administration's major boost to food aid. But Corinth says the optics would not be good after a campaign in which the high cost of food and everything else was a top issue. He does expect the Trump administration to again try to tighten or expand work requirements for people getting public assistance. It's a matter of fairness, he says, and thinks many Americans agree. Corinth points to current requirements for food aid.
CORINTH: States are really gaming the system and waiving these work requirements. They're supposed to be only waived when economic times are bad, but the way the rules are written allows a lot more waivers than there should be.
LUDDEN: Critics say work requirements can wrongly push people off aid, and there's no strong evidence they're effective. Sarah Saadian with the National Low Income Housing Coalition says 9ne in 10 people with rental subsidies are seniors, or have disabilities or already have a job.
SARAH SAADIAN: It's not a real solution because people are working. They're just not getting paid wages that are high enough to afford housing.
LUDDEN: Bailey at the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities says everyone should care about helping those who struggle most.
BAILEY: If your heart breaks when you see someone who's sleeping on the street, what would help them not sleep on the street is rental assistance. Rental assistance is the No. 1 thing that we know works to end homelessness.
LUDDEN: She'll make that case to lawmakers again but worries the hunt will be intense to cut spending even for the poorest Americans. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD AND GHOSTFACE KILLAH SONG, "GUNSHOWERS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
