Hillary Clinton slams Trump's $26n budget-cut 'onslaught' on vulnerable people

Hillary Clinton has waded into the row over Donald Trump's budget-cut proposals, accusing them of being 'cruel'.

Clinton was speaking at the Children's Health Fund Annual Benefit on Tuesday night just hours after the Trump administration revealed more than $26bn of annual cuts to programmes from social care to the environment.

At the benefit, she sharply attacked the proposals which would see 66 federal programmes eliminated.

"This administration is mounting an onslaught against the needs of children, people with disabilities, women and seniors," Clinton declared.

"Poverty is neither a crime, nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live," Clinton continued, quoting from an essay in author Sarah Kendzior's book "The View From Flyover Country."

Trump's budget proposals would herald $1.4 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the course of a decade and $1.5 trillion in non-defence cuts.

It also slashes $274 billion from anti-poverty programmes, including $193 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme, more commonly known as food stamps.

The budget for disability insurance offered through social security also faces cutbacks despite Trump pledging throughout the 2016 campaign that he would protect the programme.

After the election in November 2016, Clinton kept her silence for much of the transition, but since Trump took office in January, she has slowly ramped up her attacks on his administration.

Earlier in the year she said: "This administration's proposed cuts to international health, development, and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake to our country."