Last weekend, President Trump threw an extravagant military parade on his birthday, and taxpayers are footing the $45 million bill. While it may seem like Trump is honoring the military, I know, as a former Army soldier, what we really need is to end the Republican-backed assault on programs veterans rely on.
Right now, Trump’s administration is unnecessarily putting veteran lives on the line. DOGE cuts have stripped the Veterans Affairs’ crisis line and halted crucial VA cancer trials and treatments for veterans. DOGE’s mass firings of federal employees will cost thousands of veterans their jobs.
And the budget bill that Trump is pushing through Congress will only do more damage. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill will kick 16 million Americans off of Medicaid, a program that one in 10 veterans rely on. It will also gut critical food assistance programs and skyrocket energy prices, making veterans and Americans poorer while lining billionaires’ pockets through tax giveaways.
I have a message for Donald Trump: If you really want to honor veterans, stop your dangerous budget bill.
Angela Montalvo
Fairywood