Trump’s 2020 Budget: $1.9 Trillion Entitlement Cuts, $8.6 Billion for Wall

Trump’s 2020 Budget: $1.9 Trillion Entitlement Cuts, $8.6 Billion for Wall

President Donald Trump released his budget for the 2020 fiscal year, which adds up to $4.7 trillion.

The budget includes spending cuts up to $2.7 trillion. The majority of that number comes from $1.9 trillion in entitlement cuts.

From The Wall Street Journal:

The White House budget document proposed $2.7 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, including $1.9 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending programs, a senior administration official said Monday. The official said the president’s budget proposes more spending cuts over the next 10 years than any administration in history.

The budget would reduce the overall level of nondefense spending by 5% next year below current federal spending caps, a nearly $30 billion reduction. The budget would increase military spending by 5%, to $750 billion from $716 billion in fiscal year 2019.

The budget proposes to cut $327 billion from safety-net programs and will include work requirements for recipients of food stamps, Medicaid and federal housing programs, the senior administration official said.

The budget proposes $8.6 billion for a wall and barrier along our southern border. This number includes “$5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security and $3.6 billion for the Defense Department’s military-construction budget.”

This idea ruffled the Democrats’ feathers since Trump originally asked for $5.7 billion for a wall, which caused a partial shutdown of the government in December and January. From Fox News:

Democrats, though, continue to argue that an emergency at the border is “non-existent,” and promised to block the proposal to build the wall again.

“President Trump hurt millions of Americans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement.

“Congress refused to fund his wall and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson,” they said, adding that the funding would be better put to use toward domestic programs like “education and workforce development.”

Trump asks for cuts in “domestic discretionary spending,” but wants more money for “defense and veterans affairs.” From The Washington Examiner:

While cutting domestic discretionary spending for this coming year across the board, the Trump administration will ask Congress for significant increases in defense and veterans affairs spending. The administration plans to ask for $750 billion in new defense spending, up from an expected total of $716 billion in the current fiscal year.

The budget also includes $200 billion in new infrastructure spending, which the administration claims can be leveraged into $1 trillion in total infrastructure investment. A senior administration official who briefed reporters declined to provide specifics, instead saying that the administration would leave details up to Congress.

It has a proposal for national paid family leave along with a request for money to form Space Force “as a new branch of the military.” There’s also a request for a work requirement:

Meanwhile, the budget aims to implement new welfare requirements — namely, that Americans 18-65 years old work at least 20 hours a week in a job, a job training program or a community service program to secure a range of benefits and aid.

According to the administration, the work requirement would apply to federal programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and federal housing, but would come with a hardship exemption. Last year, the administration opened the door for states to impose work requirements for Medicaid recipients. This part of the budget proposal would bring those work requirements to the federal level.

In order for a president’s budget to pass, it needs bipartisan support. It cannot pass the Senate without 60 votes. More than likely the House will squash the budget since Democrats control that chamber.

Budget Fy2020 by on Scribd

[Featured image via YouTube]

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