Last week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R. Wisc.) released a budget proposal that, along with dismantling Medicare and Medicaid, would drastically slash non-security discretionary programs. Over 10 years this proposal would cut $1.8 trillion—or nearly 42%—from public investments, programs that promote economic mobility and opportunity, and funding that protects individuals from corporate excesses and abuses. These cuts total over a third of the total spending cuts and 10 times the total deficit savings in the proposal.¹ The proposal would also bring non-security discretionary (NSD) funding down to its lowest level as a share of gross domestic product in over 50 years, and to less than half of the average level of NSD funding during the Reagan administration.