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There's a problem with Trump's plan to pay for a $54 billion defense increase with cuts to other age

M

moe

Sophomore
May 29, 2001
32,533
150
63
Surely this article is wrong or the admin is pretty much nuts. Do they just draw this sh*t up on the back of a napkin? If the numbers make no sense (and they make no sense), why even put this out there?


Politics
There's a problem with Trump's plan to pay for a $54 billion defense increase with cuts to other agencies
Andy Kiersz, Business Insider 13 hours ago

On Monday, administration officials told various news outlets that President Trump's forthcoming budget proposal will include a $54 billion increase in defense spending. To pay for it, the Trump administration plans to cut the budgets of domestic agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department, and various foreign aid programs.

However, as Business Insider's Linette Lopez pointed out, it's actually really hard to pay for increases in defense spending by only targeting domestic agencies outside of major entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Indeed, according to the Fiscal Year 2017 US federal budget, the total estimated outlays for FY 2016 from the EPA, State Department, and International Assistance Programs adds up to about $55 billion, meaning that President Trump's budget would need to nearly completely eliminate those agencies in order to pay for the proposed defense increase.

It is worth noting that the President's budget proposals are only a starting point for the overall process of figuring out what the government will spend and how they will pay for it, and we still haven't even seen the full details of the White House's proposals.

But if the final proposal does include this defense increase, Trump will likely need to find other ways to pay for it.

(Business Insider/Andy Kiersz)

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/theres-problem-trumps-plan-pay-223803326.html
 
B

bamaEER

Freshman
May 29, 2001
32,435
60
0
Trump 101:
1. He says he'll do 'X'. (Usually something lofty and brash)
2. Idea gets scrutinized and he backtracks to safer position.
3. He does 'Y'.
 
M

moe

Sophomore
May 29, 2001
32,533
150
63
bamaEER said:
Trump 101:
1. He says he'll do 'X'. (Usually something lofty and brash)
2. Idea gets scrutinized and he backtracks to safer position.
3. He does 'Y'.
Click to expand...
I know that he must work with Congress to arrive at a budget so Congress must be shaking their heads at a first offering like this from the admin. Trump finally has to do something other than write EOs, should be interesting. Trump is about to get a lesson on how the establishment (that he hates so bad) works.
 
DvlDog4WVU

DvlDog4WVU

All-Conference
Feb 2, 2008
46,688
1,757
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moe said:
Surely this article is wrong or the admin is pretty much nuts. Do they just draw this sh*t up on the back of a napkin? If the numbers make no sense (and they make no sense), why even put this out there?


Politics
There's a problem with Trump's plan to pay for a $54 billion defense increase with cuts to other agencies
Andy Kiersz, Business Insider 13 hours ago

On Monday, administration officials told various news outlets that President Trump's forthcoming budget proposal will include a $54 billion increase in defense spending. To pay for it, the Trump administration plans to cut the budgets of domestic agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department, and various foreign aid programs.

However, as Business Insider's Linette Lopez pointed out, it's actually really hard to pay for increases in defense spending by only targeting domestic agencies outside of major entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Indeed, according to the Fiscal Year 2017 US federal budget, the total estimated outlays for FY 2016 from the EPA, State Department, and International Assistance Programs adds up to about $55 billion, meaning that President Trump's budget would need to nearly completely eliminate those agencies in order to pay for the proposed defense increase.

It is worth noting that the President's budget proposals are only a starting point for the overall process of figuring out what the government will spend and how they will pay for it, and we still haven't even seen the full details of the White House's proposals.

But if the final proposal does include this defense increase, Trump will likely need to find other ways to pay for it.

(Business Insider/Andy Kiersz)

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/theres-problem-trumps-plan-pay-223803326.html
Click to expand...
Was it stated that he would pay for it completely through budget cuts on existing agencies and that there would be zero increase in deficit?
 
B

bamaEER

Freshman
May 29, 2001
32,435
60
0
moe said:
I know that he must work with Congress to arrive at a budget so Congress must be shaking their heads at a first offering like this from the admin. Trump finally has to do something other than write EOs, should be interesting. Trump is about to get a lesson on how the establishment (that he hates so bad) works.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's showtime. I would hate to be a GOP congressmen right now.
 
B

bamaEER

Freshman
May 29, 2001
32,435
60
0
DvlDog4WVU said:
Was it stated that he would pay for it completely through budget cuts on existing agencies and that there would be zero increase in deficit?
Click to expand...
I don't think any of that is known now. I think he just threw the 10% increase in DOD to be paid by domestic cuts as an opening volley.
 
W

WhiteTailEER

Sophomore
Jun 17, 2005
11,534
170
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DvlDog4WVU said:
Was it stated that he would pay for it completely through budget cuts on existing agencies and that there would be zero increase in deficit?
Click to expand...

He gets all his ideas from movies and TV shows, so he got it from the movie Dave ... where they sat down to figure out how to pay for one thing by cutting unnecessary expenditures from other places.

It worked perfectly in the movie so there's no reason to suspect it won't work in real life too.
 
DvlDog4WVU

DvlDog4WVU

All-Conference
Feb 2, 2008
46,688
1,757
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WhiteTailEER said:
He gets all his ideas from movies and TV shows, so he got it from the movie Dave ... where they sat down to figure out how to pay for one thing by cutting unnecessary expenditures from other places.

It worked perfectly in the movie so there's no reason to suspect it won't work in real life too.
Click to expand...
I love that movie.
 
W

WVPATX

Freshman
Jan 27, 2005
28,197
91
38
DvlDog4WVU said:
Then he threw out a nonsensical possibility that the left will have a field day with stating he lied and has no idea what he is talking about.
Click to expand...

Very misleading article. Bloomberg says the cuts come from ALL discretionary programs, still difficult, but possible. State and EPA are slated for the highest percentage of cuts.

Cuts Elsewhere
If Congress were to adopt Trump’s plan it would mean that everything else government spends on discretionary programs outside of national security -- including medical research, veterans care, education, national parks, food and drug regulation -- would have be cut on average by about 10 percent, though some programs might be cut more and some less. The State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency are targeted for cuts in particular.

The White House budget is mostly an opening bid in what could be a protracted process to set a federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Congress approved $543 billion for non-defense discretionary funding for fiscal 2016 and $607 billion for defense. Those totals currently are set to be reduced by 2018 under the budget sequester law, which Congress would have to amend in order to pass Trump’s spending plans. That process would give Democrats, who’ve opposed cutting domestic programs, an opening to thwart Trump’s plans.

Stan Collender, a federal budget expert at Qorvis MSLGROUP, said cuts of the magnitude Trump envisions wouldn’t necessarily “eviscerate” federal agencies, unless individual ones were targeted for deeper cuts. But he said the impact would be significant.

“This is not waste, fraud and abuse -- this is like lopping off a right arm and a right leg," Collender said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...budget-said-to-boost-defense-spending-cut-epa
 
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