ARIZONA -– Kari Lake’s “call for a 75% reduction” in the federal budget “would decimate the defense budget, eradicate veterans benefits, and terminate nearly 3 million jobs” and “would grind the federal government to a halt and tank the US economy” according to a new report from the Copper Courier. 

Kari Lake’s extreme agenda includes:

• Proposing “massive cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.”

• “[Defending] big pharma’s ability to price-gouge” Arizona seniors.

• Forcing almost 400,000 Arizona seniors into paying nearly $150 million more in medication costs while Big Pharma rakes in $8 billion more in profits. 

• Jeopardizing healthcare for over 1.4 million Arizonans in Medicare, almost 1.5 million Arizonans on Medicaid, including children, and nearly half a million veterans living in Arizona. 

Read more:

Copper Courier: Is this Kari Lake’s least serious proposal yet?

By: Camaron Stevenson

October 7th, 2024

Key Points:

• U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake on Wednesday stood firm on her vague proposal to cut the federal budget in half, a move that would decimate the defense budget, eradicate veterans benefits, and terminate nearly 3 million jobs.

• Lake has repeatedly advocated for slashing the federal budget by 50% — going as far as to call for a 75% reduction during a meeting with the Payson Tea Party, according to Payson Roundup…

• But Lake’s proposal would do more than simply trim the fat—it would grind the federal government to a halt and tank the US economy…. 

• That, coupled with the 12% necessary to pay interest so the government doesn’t default on loans, would leave only 5% of the current budget—or $435 billion—to fund the entire government, if Lake’s cuts went into effect. Those funds would need to be divided between:
  • National Defense, current budget $1.4 trillion
  • Health services, current budget $1 trillion
  • Income Security—including federal retirement benefits, housing, and unemployment—current budget $677 billion
  • Government administration, current budget $400 billion
  • Veterans benefits and services, current budget $331 billion
  • Education and social services, current budget $228 billion
  • Commerce and housing credits, current budget $150 billion
  • Transportation, current budget $133 billion
  • Natural resources and environment, $121 billion

• All that is along with community development, international affairs, agriculture, science, space, technology, energy, and the federal justice system, which currently have a combined budget roughly equal to what Lake would leave for the entire government.

• Cuts at this scale would also terminate the jobs of nearly 3 million employees who work at these agencies, along with funding that would go towards their retirement and unemployment benefits. If Lake were to cut spending by 75%, as she aspired to in July, the federal budget would be slashed to $2.1 trillion. After paying off interest from debt, that would leave $1 trillion to fund Social Security and Medicare—which require a combined $2.9 trillion to function—while also completely defunding every other federal government agency, program, and court.

• Lake’s proposal is even more extreme than what’s called for in Project 2025, a conservative instruction manual for Donald Trump should he regain the presidency. In it, massive cuts are mandated for the US Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services Departments.

• Essentially, Lake is promising to far-right activists on the campaign trail that she would collapse the federal government…