By The Numbers: Trump’s National Guard Deployments Cost Taxpayers Nearly Half A Billion Dollars
Washington, D.C. – A new report from the Institute of Policy Studies estimates that President Trump’s unnecessary deployment of the National Guard to cities that didn’t want them has cost taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars through mid-November.
IPS: “We estimate the cumulative cost of deploying the National Guard to all five cities through November 15 is approximately $473,265,435.”
With the money Trump wasted on his national guard deployments, he could’ve instead used it to restore much of the unprecedented cuts he made to critical government and community-based public safety programs that our cities rely on and were working.
$169 million – Funding cut for community violence intervention programs.
$158 million– Funding cut for grants to gun violence prevention programs.
$468 million – Cuts to the ATF used to stop the flow of drugs and guns.
Alternatively, if Trump didn’t want to work with our cities to take real steps to reduce crime, he could have used that money to fund SNAP benefits and keep health care premiums down after the Republican shutdown left millions unable to access food and allowed the ACA’s enhanced subsidies to expire for millions of people.
Feed more than 2.5 million people – The average monthly SNAP benefit is $188 per person per month.
Lower costs for 22 million people – About 22 million people receive enhanced subsidies through the ACA.
