Ebola Is Back. And Trump Is Trying to Kill Funding for It.

As U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, the White House discreetly released an official proposal to cut funding for children’s health programs, Medicare, and Ebola responses. The two policies may seem unrelated, but they share the same basic design — assuming vast national security risks simply for the sake of dismantling former President Barack Obama’s legacy.

“I herewith report 38 rescissions of budget authority, totaling $15.4 billion,” reads Trump’s health program edict, referring to cuts — mostly in health care and emergency responses overseas — that he wants Congress to make in the current 2018 budget. By law, Congress has 45 days to agree to the cuts, throw them back to a veto challenge, or insist on further White House justification for the actions. The $15.4 billion slice off the $4.1 trillion federal budget is trivial, amounting to less than half a percent of government spending and making no appreciable dent in the $440 billion deficit created by the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted in March. In other words, there is no way Trump’s actions can be said to be motivated by fiscal responsibility, deficit reduction, or pursuit of a balanced federal budget.