The plan cuts nearly $3.6 trillion from an array of benefit programs and domestic agencies over the coming decade.
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The budget wants to set aside $1.6 billion for the wall’s construction, with no mention of Mexico chipping in or even paying the United States back, as Trump has sometimes suggested.
The administration’s motive is to get as many people back into the workforce as possible in an effort to spur economic growth, said OMB Director Mick Mulvaney.
Higher growth means lower deficits and Trump’s plan folds in more than $2 trillion in unspecified deficit savings over the coming decade from “economic feedback” to promise balance.
Here is how five healthcare groups reacted to the budget proposal.
The American economy has expanded – albeit anemically – for the last eight years.
“The Trump administration said in fiscal year 2018 budget documents today that it will work with Congress to enable federal health officials to issue regulations to improve the 340B drug discount program’s integrity and transparency”.
Meanwhile, former OMB Director Jim Nussle said on CNBC Tuesday that the budget would only push America’s economic growth by 1.9%. But as we’ve seen time and again, too many businesses choose the bottom line over the greater good, and Americans are the ones who endure the consequences.
Democrats had an opposite interpretation.
“Candidate Trump campaigned as a populist, said he wanted to help the working people, but since he has taken office he has governed like a hard-right conservative – pushing policies that help the uber wealthy at the expense of the middle class”. Dick Durbin of IL.
The president and Republicans believe such programs encourage dependence on government and discourage people from going out and getting jobs.
The plan also include $46.54 billion in cuts to federal funding for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years, but makes no changes to Social Security’s retirement program or Medicare, which are the two largest drivers of the country’s debt.
Trump’s proposal, “A New Foundation for American Greatness”, calls for $200 billion in infrastructure spending over 10 years.
Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller blasted Trump’s budget proposal as “anti-Nevada”, citing its drastic cuts to Medicaid and important public lands programs in the state. Food stamps are paid for entirely through federal funding, so such slashing the budget for the program by 25 percent would be significant.
Yet deep cuts to many aspects of the American safety net indicate otherwise.
Medicaid spending, which Trump promised to spare as a candidate, would be reduced $800 billion over the next decade. The White House may have a better chance sticking to Trump’s more traditional sales pitch for “the biggest tax cut in history”. Let’s talk about those three promises.
Trump does not offer any new details on plans for a Republican overhaul of the federal tax code.
“It’s not a serious budget”, said Stan Collender, a leading budget expert who used to work for the congressional budget committees. After the North Carolina Senate budget cruelly eliminated food assistance for tens of thousands of kids and seniors, the cuts in the federal budget would make the problem worse.
In the end, however, said NYU and College of New Rochelle political science professor Jeanne Zaino, the budget is much more about politics than it is about economics, which is why the budget that passes Congress is likely to look very different from the one that the Trump Administration just proposed.
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An early review by Hoene’s organization also noted the Trump administration proposes the elimination of emergency food and shelter programs that provide some $20 million in help to Californians each year.
