Trump’s Hollow Claim about ‘Inner Cities’

President Donald Trump claimed that his administration is “spending a lot of money on the inner cities.” But there has been little change in spending so far, and his first budget proposes to cut or eliminate funding for some programs that benefit cities.

For example, Trump’s proposed 2018 budget would cut the Housing and Urban Development budget by 13 percent, including eliminating the Community Development Block Grant program for a savings of $3 billion.

Trump has said his urban agenda would focus on education and crime. And to be sure, the president has shifted some existing resources in an attempt to reduce violent crime in cities and has proposed significant increases in school-choice programs for students from low-income families. But the reductions to other programs that benefit cities cut much deeper.

Trump’s comments about funding for inner cities came during a press conference on Aug. 15 in which he defended his response to the deadly violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Trump argued that job creation would have “a tremendous, positive impact on race relations.”

“And I’ll tell you, we’re spending a lot of money on the inner cities,” Trump added. “We’re going to fix — we’re fixing the inner cities. We’re doing far more than anybody’s done