We Must Invest in Services that Benefit the Greatest Number of Americans

Last week, we touched on the fact that the consequences of dismantling social services and public safety nets will be felt not for years, but for generations, and that is true on so many levels. This administration is dismantling services and agencies that are vital to 99% of Americans, all to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, and the 119th Congress is enabling it. On July 4, 2025, the United States’ 249th birthday, the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law. Included in this legislation were tax breaks for some of the wealthiest Americans that will cost $3.4T over 10 years, or approximately $340B annually. Let that number settle for a moment. $340 billion. Every year. Effectively removed from the U.S. treasury for the benefit of those who need it least.

For context, it would only cost $25B per year to have universal free lunch and breakfast in public schools, $30B per year to end homelessness in the United States, or only $87.5B for the Department of Education to increase teacher pay for every single public school teacher by $25,000 per year! There would still be $200B left over to give out as tax breaks. The math is not complicated. Our priorities are.

For more context on just how out of whack our priorities lie, over a year ago, Trump issued an executive order to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. He and his Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, pledged to dismantle the department. They have not yet completed their mission, but they are aggressively dismantling it by transferring major programs, slashing the department's staff in half, and cutting grant programs. They are gutting essential resources that serve as the lifeline for minority-serving institutions. 

Over the past year, the department fired 90% of its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) staff. This office is tasked with ensuring equal access to education and addressing complaints of discrimination. Fewer staff does not mean discrimination is dying down; it just means more complaints will go unaddressed. The agency has entered into nine agreements to transfer 118 programs to other government agencies, thereby shifting responsibility. We’ve seen attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools at all levels. The administration clawed back $900 million in education research grants, which keeps us from gathering critical data on what schools and families need. Important information on things like school crime and safety, early childhood education, trade schools, teaching students with disabilities, and more. They have even managed to dismantle student loan forgiveness for higher education, including for public servants such as teachers, firefighters, librarians, and nurses, all while working to significantly lower the cap on federal student loans for specific degrees like education, nursing, and social work. To top it all off, the Department of Education announced its intent to transfer the U.S. student loan portfolio of nearly $1.7T to the Department of the Treasury, again handing off a core responsibility to another department. 

Supporting education at all levels will be the greatest equalizer of our time, and cuts like these actively undermine the future of our country. The next changemakers, greatest thinkers, next start-up tech bros, women in STEM, etc., cannot be successful if we are actively dismantling the very system that can get them on the path to living the American dream. The United States will feel the impact of these policies for decades. Because our system is designed to divide and disenfranchise, we must do everything we can to uplift future generations. We must build a better future for ourselves and our posterity, brick by brick. It starts by making pathways to success and opportunity available to anyone, not just the wealthy. By increasing wages, improving access to childcare, improving overall health, feeding our children, and improving the quality of our education system, I’ll be honest, the solution to all of this starts in our schools. It starts with setting the future up for success. When we equip our schools with the resources they need, our children learn. When we pay teachers a wage they deserve, our schools thrive. When we invest in services that benefit the greatest number of Americans, our country becomes a place where we can all achieve economic success. 

The administration will complain about pretty much anything that benefits the American people. But the truth is, we would not need these programs if the American society were designed to enable Americans to thrive or to succeed. USAID and the Department of Education improved and bettered lives. They were immediately targeted by 47. That says everything about this administration’s priorities.

The fundamental purpose of government is to serve the people it governs, and I believe that means leaving no one behind. We must equip the next generations with the skills and resources they need to succeed in a modern and changing world. This means shifting funding and our priorities back to the People at large. Not just the wealthiest citizens among us. Not just those who hold a four-year degree. Not just business owners. We must provide America’s children with the tools and skills necessary to compete in a modern economy, because when we do, we open up so many doors for so many different people. We create possibilities and potential.

I conclude that the United States must use its tax dollars to benefit the greatest number of persons possible with each dollar spent. For that reason, we must accept that trickle-down economics is a smashing success for the wealthy and leaves the rest of the American People holding the bag. We are sacrificing education, small business investments, access to housing, universal healthcare, and so much more, all so that we can give the wealthiest Americans tax breaks. We must end this misguided policy and embrace a United States that celebrates helping our neighbors and gladly assists those in need.

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Jessica Todd, Children Nutrition Programs – National School Lunch Program (2025), United States Department of Agriculture, https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/child-nutrition-programs/national-school-lunch-program.

Melissa Hartman, What Would It Take to End Homelessness in America? (2025), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/we-can-end-homelessness-in-america.

Teacher Characteristics and Trends, National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28.

Ali Schalop, The Plan to Abolish the Education Department-One Year Later (2026), NEA, https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/plan-abolish-education-department-one-year-later.