Trump’s Budget Isn’t Out Until Next Week, but It's Already Taking Heat
Budget

Trump’s Budget Isn’t Out Until Next Week, but It's Already Taking Heat

JOSHUA ROBERTS/Reuters

President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget is set to be released on Monday, with congressional hearings about it to follow throughout the week. But House Democrats aren’t waiting to frame the new budget proposal as using higher deficits as a pretext to slash critical spending.

We already know some of what will be in the budget — including proposed cuts to non-defense spending, increases in military spending that rely on what could be called an accounting gimmick and new rhetoric on deficits — thanks in part to a preview published last month by the acting director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

“As the Administration has already previewed, we expect the President to suddenly sound alarms about the growing deficits his tax giveaways to the very wealthy and large corporations helped create, while once again asking hardworking Americans to pick up the tab through cuts to vital services and programs,” the communications office for the House Budget Committee Democrats said in a release.

The Budget Committee Democrats, led by Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, said they expect Trump’s budget to include “devastating cuts” to non-defense discretionary spending, new efforts to slash safety net spending on programs like Medicaid and nutrition assistance and unrealistic projections around economic growth and the GOP tax law.

They add, however, that they expect Trump’s budget will largely be ignored on Capitol Hill, much as it was last year, as lawmakers work out their own deal to set spending levels for the year.

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