[ad_1]
rssfeeds.usatoday.com
WASHINGTON – The budget President Donald Trump will deliver to Congress on Monday reads more like a 2020 campaign document than a spending plan that has any realistic chance of becoming law.
Trump’s proposal spells out his spending wish list for the coming fiscal year while at the same time reinforcing campaign priorities as he asks voters to return him to office for another four years. But with Democrats controlling the House, it stands no chance of passing.
As details of the proposed budget began leaking over the weekend, House Democrats made it clear they have no intentions of going along with the proposal.
“The budget is a statement of values, and once again the president is showing just how little he values the good health, financial security and well-being of hard-working American families,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., chairman of the House Budget Committee, called the spending proposal “a destructive and irrational budget.”
“Congress will stand firm against this president’s broken promises and his disregard for the human cost of his destructive policies,” he said.
Trump’s $4.89 trillion spending plan – the final budget of his first term in office – calls for increases to military spending and cuts to domestic program.
Trump is proposing $740.5 billion, a 0.3% increase, in military spending for the fiscal year that begins in October. Non-defense programs would be cut by 5% to $590 billion.
The proposal also calls for $4.6 trillion in deficit reduction, $4.4 trillion in spending reductions and a 21% cut to foreign aid, said officials familiar with the proposed spending plan but not authorized to discuss it publicly. The budget would balance in 15 years, the officials said.
Trump said over the weekend that he would not touch the largest domestic programs.
“We will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget,” he said in a tweet on Saturday. “Only the Democrats will destroy them by destroying our Country’s greatest ever Economy!”
Yet just last month, Trump opened the door to overhauling entitlement programs such as Medicare, saying during a television appearance while in Davos, Switzerland, that “tremendous growth” in the economy would make it easier to restructure such programs.
Entitlement cuts?Trump says he’d take ‘take a look’ at changing entitlements such as Medicare
The Wall Street Journal reported that the budget will seek $4.4 trillion in savings over a decade – and $2 trillion of that come from savings from entitlements, including $130 billion from changes to Medicare prescription drug pricing.
Trump also is asking Congress for $2 billion in new funding for construction of a wall along the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico, one of his signature promises from his 2016 presidential campaign. That is less than the $5 billion sought last year in border wall funding, a request that triggered a record-setting, 35-day government shutdown last winter after congressional Democrats refused to approve the money.
Trump will also propose spending billions on health care, infrastructure, business loans and internet access in rural America, a key part of his constituency as he seeks re-election in November.
Among the programs is $25 billion for a new “Revitalizing Rural America” grant program to help areas with broadband transportation, water and road and bridge projects; $614 million in funding for water and wastewater grants and loans; and $690 million in loans to finance broadband infrastructure deployment of rural telecommunication facilities.
Money for rural America:Trump budget proposal pitches billions for rural America, a key constituency in 2020
Deficit hawks will be watching to see how much the proposed budget adds to the federal debt, which has increased by $2.8 trillion since Trump took office and is projected to soar by $4.7 trillion through the end of the decade because of spending increases and tax cuts.
The Trump administration is projecting economic growth of 3% over the next several years, which economists say is unrealistic. The economy grew 2.3% in 2019, falling short of Trump’s promise of at least 3%, according to data released last month by the Commerce Department.
Public interest groups have begun protesting the impact of proposed cuts on various programs.
Admiral Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter to congressional leaders on Friday warning that cuts to international affairs programs are “out of touch with the reality around the world.”
“This is a moment when more investment in diplomacy and development is needed, not less,” Mullen wrote said.
Republican strategist Rick Tyler, a frequent Trump critic, also took issue with the administration’s budget proposal.
“Politically, with its proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – all programs Trump promised not to touch – it’s a gift to Democrats,” he said.
Bobby Kogan, chief mathematician for the Senate Budget Committee, wrote on Twitter that that Trump’s proposed budget is “enormously cruel.”
Yarmuth noted that, just six months ago, Trump signed into law a bipartisan budget deal that was supposed to make it easier for Congress to approve spending bills for the upcoming fiscal year.
“Now the president is apparently going back on his word,” Yarmuth said. “Instead, he is proposing deep cuts to critical programs that help American families and protect our economic and national security. Furthermore, the budget reportedly includes destructive changes to Medicaid, SNAP, Social Security and other assistance programs that help Americans make ends meet – all while extending his tax cuts for millionaires and wealthy corporations.
“Congress will stand firm against this president’s broken promises and his disregard for the human cost of his destructive policies,” he said.
Michael Collins and David Jackson cover the White House. Reach Collins on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS and Jackson @djusatoday.
[ad_2]
Source link