The trump administration for all its dysfunction is slowly beginning to form a budget to submit to Congress. The White House Budget Office has compiled a draft list of Programs the administration intends to get rid of, and the targets are a conservative wish list of programs Republicans have been trying to do away with for years.
Promises fulfilled
During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to increase military and infrastructure spending by cutting away domestic programs. Now that President Trump has a budget director confirmed in the form of Mick Mulvaney, an initial list of programs Trump intends to cut is taking form.
Popular domestic programs such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Legal Services Corporation, and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities are on the chopping block along with other favorite conservative targets like AmeriCorps.
Even though these programs amount to only about $2.5 billion annually out of a $4 trillion budget, conservatives have frequently pointed to these programs as examples of government waste. Former Congressman Mulvaney who now heads the Office of Management and Budget is considered a spending hardliner, and as more cabinet appointees are confirmed, the list of programs could expand even more under his direction.
The coming months
The current fiscal year ends April 28th, and a budget battle looms over the horizon in Congress along with debate over the Obamacare repeal and replace legislation.
Over the weekend at town hall meetings, Republicans already heard an earful from constituents regarding the repeal of Obamacare, and Republicans may be in for more rowdy interactions with voters once this draft list of domestic programs to cut is circulated. Trump might also face resistance from business too as the Export-Import Bank was included on the list of programs to cut.
The bank guarantees loans for overseas customers of American corporations, and businesses, and Trump at one time, state the bank promotes American exports. Trump and Republicans will face stiff resistance from Democrats too in cutting any domestic programs since Democrats will be needed to lift the caps on any defense spending due to the Budget Control Act of 2011.
The domestic programs the Trump administration intends to cut like The Appalachian Regional Commission, a program to help develop poor rural areas, and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, a nonprofit focused on urban development, help the very people who Trump said he look out for once in office. If hardline conservatives in his administration and Congress are successful in doing away with these programs, which only amount to less than one percent of the annual government budget, Trump may find the people who adore him so much might abandon him and Republicans at the midterm polls in 2018.
