To the editor:

The President’s budget proposal demands a response from each of us, here is mine. (“Trump’s Nightmare Budget” by Mel Gurtov, Bainbridge Island Review, March 16, 2019).

Dear Mr. President, thanks for your proposal to end AIDS in America by 2030 and backing it with dollars in your proposed budget. I am not sure you have allotted enough money for the job, but it is a start. Of course the only way to insure an end to AIDS in America is to treat it globally, which our commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been helping to make great progress on controlling these three diseases, so please increase America’s pledge to the Global Fund.

Sorry to say that ending AIDS is the only bright spot I found in your proposed budget. With 40 percent of Americans in poverty or one $400 financial crisis away from it, cutting safety net programs like SNAP will just make it worse. It is time to really bring hope and opportunity to all Americans, regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual preference, or socio-economic status.

Citizens will be speaking to their representatives about this as the budget moves through Congress. I hope you will listen as well.

WILLIE DICKERSON

Snohomish