Washington, D.C. — Tomorrow, President Donald Trump will travel to Tupelo, Mississippi, to attend an event alongside Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) at BancorpSouth Arena.
In previous trips to Mississippi, Trump promised to lower health care costs, increase wages for workers, lower taxes for the middle class, and fix the student debt crisis. In reality, his administration has failed to deliver on these promises, instead siding with insurance companies to end protections for people with preexisting conditions; blocking a minimum wage increase; and even rolling back protections for family farms, causing the highest spike in bankruptcies in nearly a decade.
Learn more about President Trump’s broken promises to Mississippi families here.
Health care
Promise: “Preexisting conditions will always be taken care of by us. Have to do it.” –Donald Trump in Southaven, Mississippi, October 2, 2018
Reality: The Trump administration is trying to sabotage Americans’ health care by repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or destroying the law in the courts.
- 1.2 million Mississippians with preexisting conditions will lose protections under ACA repeal.
- 100,000 Mississippians will lose their health coverage under ACA repeal.
- The annual premium increase for the average Mississippi family under ACA repeal would be $3,410.
- If the ACA were overturned, the loss in coverage would disproportionately harm Black people, causing millions of Black Americans to lose health care coverage.
Farming
Promise: “We’re going to further protect our family farmers. I’m going to protect them like they have never been protected before.” – Donald Trump, November 6, 2016
Reality: The Trump administration killed the Farmer Fair Practices Rules that were put in place to protect farmers from exploitative contract terms and retaliation from meat and poultry monopolies.
- Meanwhile, Mississippi lost nearly 200 poultry farms between 2012 and 2017.
- The Trump administration is putting Mississippi soybean farmers in harm’s way with erratic trade policies. Soybean prices hit a nine-year low as China imposed retaliatory tariffs and pivoted to soybean sources outside of the United States.
- As tariffs push agriculture prices below the break-even point, farm bankruptcies are on the rise. Nationwide, there were 512 Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies filed in the first three months of 2019—the worst quarter in seven years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
- Net farm income has fallen by nearly 50 percent since 2013, as the Trump administration’s erratic trade policies continue to exacerbate farmers’ economic pain.
Jobs and wages
Promise: “We are going to create jobs, jobs, jobs! I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created, believe me.” – Donald Trump in Jackson, Mississippi, August 24, 2016
Reality: The minimum wage in Mississippi sits at just $7.25—the same level as the federal minimum wage. Trump said he would veto a federal minimum wage increase, which would have given a raise to nearly 40 million people nationwide.
- As a result of Trump’s failure to raise the minimum wage, 478,000 Mississippi workers were denied a pay increase.
- Mississippi workers lost $2 billion in wages this year.
The Trump administration has taken away safeguards that ensure workers are paid overtime, protect retirees from exploitative financial advisers, and ensure that people pay less at the gas pump. Under the Trump administration’s blatantly anti-consumer agenda, Mississippians have seen:
Taxes
Promise: “A vote for Republicans is a vote for lower taxes.” – Donald Trump in Southaven, Mississippi, October 2, 2018
Reality: Most of Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut goes to corporations and the rich. Many Mississippi families are getting stuck with the bill.
- 87,630 Mississippi families paid more in taxes this year due to the Trump administration’s tax scam.
- The average tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent of Mississippians was $35,970. The vast majority of Mississippians saw just a small fraction of that.
Student debt
Promise: “In a Trump administration … we will lower the cost of college and solve the student loan crisis. It’s a crisis. Very unfair.” – Donald Trump, October 13, 2016
Reality: Despite Trump’s promises to fix the national student debt crisis, the Trump administration has only made things harder. The administration tried to cap the amount of loans borrowers can take out and shrink the number of repayment plans available to them.
- 189,600 people, or 46 percent of borrowers, in Mississippi owe more than $20,000 in student loans.
- Trump’s Department of Education has discontinued investigations into corporations accused of defrauding students, which disproportionally harm Black students.
- 70 percent of Black Americans who borrow to attend a for-profit colleges default on their loans.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, please contact Freedom Alexander Murphy at [email protected] or 202-796-9712.