Trump hits Medicaid, food stamps in push to slash domestic spending - POLITICO

President Donald Trump. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump‘s budget request on Monday will pitch billions of dollars in cuts to non-defense spending despite a budget deal he already negotiated with Congress, in addition to seeking major savings by targeting the federal safety net, a senior administration official told POLITICO on Sunday.

Trump also will ask Congress for a slight spending increase for the Pentagon as he releases his $4.8 trillion budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year — all proposals sure to be rejected by Democrats who control the House.

The president aims to cut $4.4 trillion in spending over a decade and projects an end to annual deficits in 15 years, rather than a more aggressive 10-year goal. About half of the savings would stem from the Trump administration’s push to overhaul mandatory spending, including changes that would curb food stamp benefits, implement Medicaid work requirements and tackle improper health payments, among other reforms.

An administration official stressed that the president isn’t proposing to cut Medicare or Medicaid in order to achieve savings, and that mandatory spending for both health programs increases each year in Trump’s budget plan.

Under Trump’s plan, the federal deficit would shrink to $966 billion next fiscal year. That gap between government spending and revenue is forecast to exceed $1 trillion this year.

Democrats will never agree to carve up domestic programs for savings, and it will be up to Congress to decide on final fiscal 2021 spending levels. While the president is looking for significantly less border money than last year, any increase is still bound to spark a fight with Democrats, as will the extra cash for immigration enforcement.

The two-year budget deal forged by Congress and the Trump administration last summer cemented $738 billion in fiscal 2020 funding for the military and $632 billion for non-defense departments. Federal funding limits will be even higher — but still tight — for the fiscal year that begins in October, allowing an extra $2.5 billion for the military and another $2.5 billion bump for non-defense programs, under the agreement.

Trump is instead pushing for cuts to the non-defense spending level that he negotiated with Congress, bringing that level down to $590 billion, while maintaining military funding at $740.5 billion.

A senior administration official, speaking on background, said Congress should spend at lower levels than the negotiated funding caps, particularly when it comes to non-defense spending.

The president’s budget plan once again assumes more robust economic growth than what most economists predict at 3 percent over the next decade, driven by the implementation of his policies.

And as with his previous budget proposals, Trump is once again seeking deep and unrealistic cuts to a number of federal agency budgets, and the cuts are unlikely to be embraced by Congress.

For example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development would see a 15 percent cut, the Commerce Department’s budget would be reduced by 37 percent after the completion of the 2020 census and foreign aid would be reduced by about a fifth. The EPA’s budget would see a 26 percent chop.

POLITICO first reported last month, however, that Trump will request level funding for Ukraine aid in his upcoming budget, which is a notable break from his previous budget blueprints, when he proposed cutting tens of millions of dollars in foreign military assistance through the State Department.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would see a 9 percent reduction to its budget, although billions of dollars to fight infectious diseases would be preserved amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

Trump’s request would also nix funding for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada, after he tweeted a promise last week to find a solution to long-term nuclear waste storage without moving forward with the permanent repository.

Among agencies getting a budget boost, the Department of Veterans Affairs would see a 13 percent increase next fiscal year and NASA would see a 12 percent increase to fulfill Trump’s goal of putting astronauts back on the moon by 2024. The Department of Homeland Security would see a 3 percent boost and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s budget would get a 19 percent boost.

Trump’s plan would devote $1 trillion to boosting infrastructure over 10 years, offset by savings in mandatory spending. It would also relocate the Secret Service from DHS to the Treasury Department in a move that would require congressional approval.

The budget request will ask Congress for an extra $2 billion for border wall construction, in addition to billions in funding hikes for immigration enforcement.

Trump sought a much heftier $8.6 billion in border funding last year, and the $2 billion this year reflects the administration’s success in circumventing Congress to free up billions of dollars for barrier construction. The request for an additional $2 billion comes on top of nearly $1.4 billion that congressional leaders agreed to provide this fiscal year, and after Trump diverted $6.7 billion from military construction and other accounts to build a wall.

The administration is reportedly planning to reprogram another $7.2 billion, after legal challenges and congressional attempts to stop the administration from reshuffling federal cash fell short.

Trump will also seek an extra $1.4 billion over current funding levels for Customs and Border Protection, bringing the agency’s total to $15.6 billion, according to officials familiar with the request. He’ll also ask for a $1.9 billion boost for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, bringing the agency’s total to $9.9 billion.

“This request is based on what’s required to gain operational control of the border,” a senior administration official told POLITICO. “Since taking office, President Trump has prioritized funding for a border wall. With funding available, the administration will build up to approximately 1,000 miles of border wall along the southwest border.“

The Wall Street Journal first reported the toplines of Trump‘s fiscal 2021 budget request, which is due out Monday.

Republicans in both the House and Senate have already been forced to vote twice during the past year to overturn Trump’s previous emergency order to shift billions in military construction funds toward the border wall. While the president promptly vetoed those rebukes, the votes caused discomfort for GOP lawmakers torn between supporting Trump and delaying projects that benefit military families in their home states.

The $2 billion Trump is seeking for a border wall in fiscal 2021 is also billions of dollars less than the $5.7 billion demand that sparked the 35-day government shutdown in 2018.

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