Tag: Trump budget

In big reversal, new Trump budget will give up on longtime Republican goal of eliminating deficit

The following article by Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website February 11, 2018:

The spending deal reached between Senate Democrats and Republicans would garner trillion-dollar-plus annual deficits, bringing fears of larger economic effects. (Reuters)

President Trump on Monday will offer a budget plan that falls far short of eliminating the government’s deficit over 10 years, conceding that huge tax cuts and new spending increases make this goal unattainable, three people familiar with the proposal said.

Eliminating the budget deficit over 10 years has been a North Star for the Republican Party for several decades, and GOP lawmakers took the government to the brink of default in 2011 when they demanded a vote on a amendment to the Constitution that would prohibit the federal government from spending more than it takes in. Continue reading “In big reversal, new Trump budget will give up on longtime Republican goal of eliminating deficit”

Trump’s Budget Jeopardizes Gains Expected in New Census Data

The following article by Rachel West and Katherine Gallagher Robbins was posted on the Center for American Progress website September 8, 2017:

A California Medicaid recipient pushes his cart of belongings along a street in Sacramento, February 11, 2015. Credit: AP/Rich Pedroncelli

Next week, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual estimates of income, poverty, and health insurance coverage for 2016. Experts expect that these data, which reflect the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency, will likely show that middle- and working-class families continued to make modest economic gains during 2016, with moderate reductions in poverty rates, increases in wages—particularly for low-wage workers—and health insurance coverage rates that remain historically high. The new data, which follow a year of historically strong improvements on all three measures during 2015, will demonstrate the critical importance of policy choices in improving economic security as well as underscore how much is at risk under President Donald Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ budgets.

As he has done in the past, President Trump may try to claim credit for progress that entirely preceded his presidency. But whether he does this or chooses to ignore the most important yearly benchmark of Americans’ economic well-being, one thing is clear: Under policies Trump has proposed—which he has largely failed to enact—struggling working families would have far fewer resources to make ends meet. Put simply, in the America President Trump wants, poverty would be much worse. Continue reading “Trump’s Budget Jeopardizes Gains Expected in New Census Data”

Kansas is Very Important

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website August 14, 2017:

With the House and Senate set to take up tax reform with Donald Trump’s White House this fall, the story of Kansas and their dramatic experiment in supply-side tax policy needs to be told and understood. Those who claim that reducing taxes will create economic growth need to be able to answer the following question: Why should we as a country adopt an economic strategy that failed spectacularly in Kansas?

To review, in 2012 Kansas governor Sam Brownback along with the Republican majority in the legislature passed enormous tax cuts for small businesses, a reduction in personal income tax, and the elimination of taxes for a variety of goods and industries. The result, Brownback promised, would be increased disposable income, more jobs, and people moving to Kansas for work and business. “It will pave the way to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, bring tens of thousands of people to Kansas, and help make our state the best place in America to start and grow a small business,” Brownback claimed. “It will leave more than a billion dollars in the hands of Kansans. An expanding economy and growing population will directly benefit our schools and local governments.” Continue reading “Kansas is Very Important”

Trump Vacations While Slashing Summer Programs for Low-Income Kids

The following article by Melissa Boteach was posted on the Center for American Progress website July 20, 2017:

AP/Carolyn Kaster
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron Trump board Air Force One, June 30, 2017.

President Donald Trump’s frequent and lavish vacations have been well documented. He has been away on vacation at his resorts in Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster Township more than 40 percent of the weekends he has been president, asking taxpayers to foot a record-breaking $28.6 million bill.

The job of president is grueling and taking some vacation is understandable. But Trump seems to have two standards for spending taxpayer dollars. When it comes to his own vacations at his family’s properties, money is no object. After all, it’s going back into his family’s own pockets anyway. But when it comes to the nation’s children, his Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney emphasizes that the government needs to eliminate summer enrichment programs for low-income children out of “compassion” for the taxpayer.

The cost of Trump’s budget-busting vacations must be measured not just in dollars but in the lost opportunities for the kids who benefit from these summer enrichment programs. Trump has proposed eliminating the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which helps children in high-poverty communities access after-school and summer programs that are critical to closing the achievement gap. In the summer of 2015 alone, 279,314 students across every state participated in summer enrichment programs funded by this grant; that’s more than a quarter of a million children who could lose summer enrichment if Trump’s budget proposal becomes a reality. Yet for what the taxpayers have coughed up for Trump’s vacations in the first six months of his presidency alone, 19,039 children could benefit from high-quality summer enrichment programs. Continue reading “Trump Vacations While Slashing Summer Programs for Low-Income Kids”

Budget Math?

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website May 24, 2017:

NBC News

Donald Trump has a serious math problem. Despite promising to erase the federal debt in eight years during the campaign, the budget outline released by the White House this week does the following:

  • Increases the national debt by 3 TRILLION dollars over the next ten years.
  • Slashes funding for programs that millions of Americans rely on (student loans, food stamps, health care for children, agricultural subsidies). Most notably the budget proposal also cuts Medicaid by 600 billion dollars – another campaign promise broken.
  • Cuts taxes for the wealthiest Americans by billions of dollars.

Aside from the human and environmental costs of domestic spending cuts and tax breaks for wealthy Americans, this budget is a failure for two well-documented reasons: Continue reading “Budget Math?”

How the Trump Budget Threatens the American People

The following article by Harry Stein and Gregg Gelzinis was posted on the Center for American Progress website May 26, 2017:

AP/M. Spencer Green
Lisa Zilligen, a food stamps recipient, prepares lunch for her three children at her home in Chicago on November 23, 2009.

President Donald Trump’s budget1 would do nothing to create jobs and would slash programs that help working families. Trump breaks his promise not to cut Social Security and Medicaid, threatening the livelihoods of millions of seniors, children, and people with disabilities. This budget poses a direct threat to Americans across the country, while rigging the system even more for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations.

State and congressional district data

3%

The following article was posted on the Trumpaccountable.org website May 26, 2017:

NBC News

One of the most questionable components of the Trump budget proposal is the fundamental question of the impact the budget could have on the national debt. In fact, many conservative Republicans (Donald Trump included) ran on a platform of repealing Obamacare and reducing the debt. One way that the Trump administration tries to get the budget to balance is by projecting aggressive growth. The thinking is that reducing taxes and regulation will stimulate the economy and increase productivity which will lead to greater revenue for the treasury. Aside from the fact that many, many economists dispute this supply side model, the Trump budget relies on an incredibly optimistic projected 3% economic growth through 2025. Our current growth is 1.9% and increasing growth by 1.1% is, according to most economists, an enormous challenge in a mature economy.

So, how realistic is it to achieve 3% growth? Continue reading “3%”

John Lewis Hammers Steve Mnuchin Over Trump’s Sadistic Budget Cuts

The following article by Alexandra Rosenmann was posted on the AlterNet website May 24, 2017:

Before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin attempted to defend President Trump’s $4.1 trillion budget, whose nearly $30 billion in cuts he attributed to “hard choices.” Ranking Democrat Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) wasn’t buying it.

“Mr. Secretary, I’ve often said that a budget proposal is a statement of values and priorities,” Lewis began. “This administration’s proposal makes crystal-clear that the hungry, the middle class, the elderly and the struggling will be left out and left behind.” Continue reading “John Lewis Hammers Steve Mnuchin Over Trump’s Sadistic Budget Cuts”

Trump rode golf cart while G7 leaders walked through Sicily

Note:  Remember Mr. Trump’s railing on and on about how Mrs. Clinton didn’t have the stamina to be president? Well, folks, on his first international trip, Mr. Trump couldn’t walk 1/4 mile. 

The following article (with embedded video) by Julia Manchester was posted on The Hill website May 27, 2017:

President Trump chose to ride in a golf cart while his foreign counterparts took a walk through Taormina, Sicily, on Saturday during the Group of Seven summit.

The Times of London reported the six other world leaders — from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — walked 700 yards to take a group photo at a piazza in a hilltop town. The U.S. leader decided to wait until he could get a golf cart.

Trump was late for the photo, but joined the other world leaders during the walk down from the piazza.

Trump’s brief separation from the foreign leaders ahead of the photo op comes shortly after he refused to take part in a pledge supporting the Paris climate deal. The U.S. was the only country represented at the summit that did not sign the deal on Saturday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was a “very intense meeting” where all six other nations “made it clear that we want the U.S. to stick to its commitments.”

However, White House officials said Friday the president’s views on climate change were “evolving.”

Trump said in a tweet Saturday he would make a final decision on the climate deal later this week.

View the post here.

 

 

Trump’s Problematic Math: Budget Plan Adds Growth, but Doesn’t Subtract Cost

The following article by Binyamin Applebaum was posted on the New York Times website May 23, 2017:

Eric Ueland, right, a Senate Budget Committee staff member, distributing the 2018 federal budget proposal on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s budget proposal, unveiled on Tuesday, purported to show the benefits of cutting taxes on businesses and consumers: By the end of the decade, faster growth could balance the federal budget.

The numbers looked great because the White House left out something essential: the cost.

When the government cuts taxes, it collects less money. That is the purpose of a tax cut. But Mr. Trump’s budget does not include any hint of a decrease in federal revenue. To the contrary, it projects that federal tax revenue will increase every year for the next decade. Continue reading “Trump’s Problematic Math: Budget Plan Adds Growth, but Doesn’t Subtract Cost”