Trump's $4.8 trillion budget likely to get thumbs-down from Congress

By Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs for travel to North Carolina from Washington, U.S. February 7, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's $4.8 trillion budget plan for the coming fiscal year drew a prompt rejection on Monday from congressional Democrats, who said it betrayed his promise to protect popular health and safety-net programs.

 

The budget would fund the Republican president's top priorities, including construction of a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, while cutting billions of dollars from safety net programs under the banner of welfare reform.

 

The budget is largely a political document that serves as a starting point for negotiations with Congress. With an eye toward reducing debt and deficits, Trump once again proposed steep cuts to housing, environmental, transportation and other programs that have been rejected by lawmakers in past years.

 

"We're going to keep proposing these types of budgets and hope that at some point Congress will have some sense of fiscal sanity and join us in trying to tackle our debt and deficits," Russ Vought, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told reporters.

 

Democrats said Trump's latest proposal upended his promise in last week's State of the Union speech to "always protect" the popular Social Security pension plan and the Medicare health plan for seniors.

 

"Everyone knows the latest Trump budget is dead on arrival in Congress," Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement. "It’s merely a political stunt to gratify extremists in his party."

 

Trump's budget would reduce Medicare spending by lowering drug costs and tighten eligibility requirements for Social Security's disability program.

It also would enact new work requirements for people who get food stamps or use the Medicaid health plan for the poor.

 

Last year Trump signed a two-year budget deal with Congress that increased federal spending on defense and several other domestic programs, adding to a growing government debt.

 

Trump's proposed military spending adheres to that plan, but his proposed spending for domestic agencies, like the Education Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, is 6% below the $635 billion outlined in that agreement.

 

The budget includes $2 billion to fund further construction on the border wall with Mexico, a project that is especially popular with his political base, and funding for an infrastructure bill that is unlikely to be passed by Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

 

The budget forecasts $4.6 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years and assumes economic growth at an annual rate of roughly 3% for years to come. Vought said those figures were based on an assumption that Trump's policies would be enacted.

 

The economic projections are optimistic. The Congressional Budget Office predicts the U.S. economy will grow 2.2% in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and grow less than 2.0% in the years to come.

 

The economy grew 2.3% in calendar year 2019.

 

Trump has taken credit for the strength of the U.S. economy thanks in part to tax cuts he championed and Congress passed earlier in his term.

 

The White House proposal slashes spending by $4.4 trillion over 10 years, and aims to reduce the deficit by $4.6 trillion in that time period.

 

While Trump campaigned on a promise of eventually eliminating the country's huge debt, each year of his plan projects significant budget deficits that actually would add to that $22 trillion debt.

 

This year's deficit will hover at around $1 trillion and decline next year to $966 billion if his plan were to be enacted. Even so, over 10 years, deficits would bring a $5.6 trillion increase to the debt, not counting interest payments.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Nick Zieminski and Andrea Ricci)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-11

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100% certainty it won't be approved by Congress. It isn't meant to be taken as a final draft. It's more like a rough guide to what the President has in mind. Now the Dems can counter it with what they think and something in between goes to the Senate.

Expect a tough battle over this budget, with the Dems standing firm and there will be a government shutdown which Trump and R's will blame on each other. Deficits DO matter.

Good I especially got a laugh from voughts comment about fiscal sanity ya just can’t make this stuff up lol and how many times has trump been bankrupt?

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Good I especially got a laugh from voughts comment about fiscal sanity ya just can’t make this stuff up lol and how many times has trump been bankrupt?

 

Wait until the dems negotiate. They will obviously bargain for medicare and whatever. The budget will only become bigger as both sides feed their own pork barrel projects.

25 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Wait until the dems negotiate. They will obviously bargain for medicare and whatever. The budget will only become bigger as both sides feed their own pork barrel projects.

Yes as they should it’s ther job to advocate for the people not corporations that’s why we pay taxes

Trump created 1.5 million less jobs in his first three years in office than Obama in his last three years. So jobs won't be a priority in his budget.

4 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

100% certainty it won't be approved by Congress. It isn't meant to be taken as a final draft. It's more like a rough guide to what the President has in mind. Now the Dems can counter it with what they think and something in between goes to the Senate.

How well did his other rough guides go? We both know that answer. His intent is only to speak to his base.

Edited February 11, 20206 yr by earlinclaifornia

Quid pro quo. You didnt allow a balanced trial on impeachment so dont expect any cooperation from the Dems on this dumb budget request. Dumb because he claims to be a man of peace but has  a massive increase in military budget as well as nuclear weapons management at the expense of the environment and welfare.

Yes this millionaire, who has never had to worry about money, does not have a basic concept

on how to properly save money. The USA does not need to keep giving the military more money,

if it means that someone else will be getting less money. As it was mentioned, Trump bas a base

of like minded supporters and has to keep them satisfied. The government spends way too much

money just travelling around, the tax payers should be enraged.

Geezer

3 hours ago, Tug said:

Good I especially got a laugh from voughts comment about fiscal sanity ya just can’t make this stuff up lol and how many times has trump been bankrupt?

I think that Trump is trying the same strategy that worked so well for him when his businesses were effectively insolvent - the banks had to keep banking him because otherwise their losses would be so large that the banks themselves would be swamped. Well, no international lender will call in their loans to the US government on the same basis. But lenders (or buyers of US debt) will stop lending and then what happens. It needs more than a tax break for the rich to solve that one!

The military already has way more money than it needs. Time to start with forensic accountings of all military contracts. Perhaps a hundred billion or more could be saved, and applied toward more compassionate applications. Also, all government employees should only be allowed to travel economy class, and all heads of departments should travel commercial, where they can hear directly from the masses, about how they are doing on a daily basis. Lastly, Trump's trips to Florida should be limited to once or twice a month. 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

This year's deficit will hover at around $1 trillion and decline next year to $966 billion if his plan were to be enacted. Even so, over 10 years, deficits would bring a $5.6 trillion increase to the debt, not counting interest payments.

The debt increase during tObama's last term was $3.5 trillion. For Trump's term, it will be more than $5.6 trillion, so $2.1 trillion more than Obama (+60%).

 

Promise made, promise kept! Ah! Ah!

Edited February 11, 20206 yr by candide

and that's payback time.... he also did asked for more money to build the wall, I guess Mexico is not paying for it, just like the Chinese are not (didn't pay) paying for the tariffs war... 555

15 minutes ago, candide said:

The debt increase during the last Obama's mandate was $3.5 trillion. For Trump's mandate, it will be more than $5.6 trillion, so $2.1 trillion more than Obama (+60%).

 

Promise made, promise kept! Ah! Ah!

Exactly right. The deficit has proven to be increasing at a faster rate under Trump. That is because of the tax cuts for the rich.

 

This is not rocket science. Cut taxes for the rich and deficit skyrockets. The tax cuts for the rich have essentially been placed on future generations. The Jeff Bezoses of the world should thank the taxpayers for giving them free money. 

 

The even more hilarious part are the constant claims of the stock market increasing under Trump. That is true of course, but it is because the fed injects money every time there is trouble, and so investors are obviously going to be confident when they are playing with a market that cannot crash because things are too big to fail.

 

Never in the world's history has failing been good. Fail, and get money from the fed. Obama started all this, not that it is good, be he would get the credit for it, not Trump. 

 

Taxpayers are basically funding risks for corporations nowadays. 

https://northmantrader.com/2020/01/14/repo-lightening/

Edited February 11, 20206 yr by sucit

10 minutes ago, sucit said:

Exactly right. The deficit has proven to be increasing at a faster rate under Trump. That is because of the tax cuts for the rich.

 

This is not rocket science. Cut taxes for the rich and deficit skyrockets. The tax cuts for the rich have essentially been placed on future generations. The Jeff Bezoses of the world should thank the taxpayers for giving them free money. 

 

The even more hilarious part are the constant claims of the stock market increasing under Trump. That is true of course, but it is because the fed injects money every time there is trouble, and so investors are obviously going to be confident when they are playing with a market that cannot crash because things are too big to fail.

 

Never in the world's history has failing been good. Fail, and get money from the fed. Obama started all this, not that it is good, be he would get the credit for it, not Trump. 

 

Taxpayers are basically funding risks for corporations nowadays. 

And companies use tax cuts money to debit their shares instead of investing.

There was a difference between Obama and Trump. Obama applied a countercyclical policy: he increased debt creation to fight the crisis, and then started reducing debt creation during his second mandate. Trump is applying a stupid encyclical policy: increase debt creation when the economy goes well.

Need to better distribute the pork.

21 minutes ago, sucit said:

Exactly right. The deficit has proven to be increasing at a faster rate under Trump. That is because of the tax cuts for the rich.

 

This is not rocket science. Cut taxes for the rich and deficit skyrockets. The tax cuts for the rich have essentially been placed on future generations. The Jeff Bezoses of the world should thank the taxpayers for giving them free money. 

 

The even more hilarious part are the constant claims of the stock market increasing under Trump. That is true of course, but it is because the fed injects money every time there is trouble, and so investors are obviously going to be confident when they are playing with a market that cannot crash because things are too big to fail.

 

Never in the world's history has failing been good. Fail, and get money from the fed. Obama started all this, not that it is good, be he would get the credit for it, not Trump. 

 

Taxpayers are basically funding risks for corporations nowadays. 

https://northmantrader.com/2020/01/14/repo-lightening/

I see you read, Sven. Best source out there on how Trump and Powell are building a fraudulent bubble. And this budget is just more slop for the pigs.

Trump's proposed military spending adheres to that plan, but his proposed spending for domestic agencies, like the Education Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, is 6% below the $635 billion outlined in that agreement.

 

The budget includes $2 billion to fund further construction on the border wall with Mexico, a project that is especially popular with his political base, and funding for an infrastructure bill that is unlikely to be passed by Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

 

I do not understand how this guy became the big boss. Education and Environment do not seem to be important, but weapons are?

 

Regarding the wall, it's a great idea, maybe the best Mr. Trump ever had.

 

But only if the wall is much higher than planned and only around Mr. Trump's house and garden?

 

I'd even help to build the wall and work for free. And the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. 

 

  I feel sorry for Americans who have to live with such a president. 

 

 

1 hour ago, sucit said:

This is not rocket science. Cut taxes for the rich and deficit skyrockets. The tax cuts for the rich have essentially been placed on future generations. The Jeff Bezoses of the world should thank the taxpayers for giving them free money. 

CBO projected that Trump’s tax cut for the rich will add $1.9 trillion to deficits over 10 years even after accounting for any growth effects. That’s how damaging this poorly thought out tax cut will hurt future generations.
 

If Trump is not defeated in the coming election, he will continue to misallocate spending to unproductive sectors like defence and Mars project and less for productive sectors like education and healthcare. When the deficit reached a threshold, paying the interest will be serious problem and when recession hit and the economy need funds to stimulate, the interest payment will take a sinister turn. Trump must go before the economy tanked and hurt US for generations. 

 

 

59 minutes ago, Isaanbiker said:

Trump's proposed military spending adheres to that plan, but his proposed spending for domestic agencies, like the Education Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, is 6% below the $635 billion outlined in that agreement.

 

 

 

  I feel sorry for Americans who have to live with such a president. 

 

 

 

 

This is what mystifies me when it comes to "Trump-hating".  Isn't it perfectly clear that ALL presidents since (and before) WW1 have prioritized the military???

At least you can say in T's favour that he has not (yet) started (yet another) war.  And let's not forget that it isn't a particular president that is responsible for the excessive military spending, but rather the people in D.C. whose livelihoods depend on the military/industrial complex going on "business as usual".  Dems? GOP?- doesn't matter...they're all in the same game.

 

There must be, on ThaiVisa, loads of American taxpayers who are being taken for a ride by the likes of Bolton (the #1 totem of American militarist thinking).

Why not concentrate your anger on this truly obscene form of government??

Edited February 11, 20206 yr by blazes

10 hours ago, webfact said:

We're going to keep proposing these types of budgets and hope that at some point Congress will have some sense of fiscal sanity and join us in trying to tackle our debt and deficits," Russ Vought, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told reporters.

Fiscal sanity, what a joke! Republicans always pride themselves on being fiscaly responsible, the keepers of the budget. Looking at the last few Republican presidents, including the one occupying the WH now, you can see the complete opposite, though. Reagan and Bush sr. left Clinton with a huge deficit, which Clinton turned around in 8 years, and he left Bush jr. with a record surplus. And what did Bush jr. do? He spent trillions and trillions of dollars on an illegal war, slashed taxes for the rich and ran the economy into the ground. The Obama administration was faced with the worst economical crisis in decades, but still managed to clean up the mess Bush jr. had made and Trump inherited a surplus again. But Trump being Trump - and a Republican - he can't help himself and makes the same mistakes his Republican predecessors made and whoever is going to follow Trump is going to inherit a huge deficit again.

So what was that you were saying about fiscal sanity again, mister Russ Vought, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget?

Edited February 11, 20206 yr by rudi49jr