Trump's budget reflects campaign priorities but abandons pledge to wipe out deficit in 10 years

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump says 'America is thriving' at Davos World Economic Forum President Donald Trump boasted about America's "economic boom" at an economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump promised during his presidential campaign in 2016 that he would wipe out the federal deficit in eight years.

When Trump submitted his fourth proposed budget to Congress on Monday, he abandoned that pledge, as he did in his three previous budget proposals. The new budget proposal sets a 15-year target for eliminating the deficit.

Deficit hawks questioned whether the 15-year target that Trump spelled out is even attainable, arguing the administration’s budget relies on optimistic projections for economic growth and unlikely budget cuts to claim $4.6 trillion in deficit reduction.

“Frankly, budgeting has become pretty much a joke in this country, where budgets are used as messaging documents and an excuse to trade insults,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

This year’s trillion-dollar deficit “should cause us to rethink this dynamic,” MacGuineas said. “The president and Congress should work to agree on national priorities and sound plans to pay for them. Sure, it sounds like a pipe dream, but in the world’s largest economy, it should be a given.”

Trump’s $4.89 trillion spending plan – the final budget of his first term in office – reads more like a 2020 campaign document than a spending plan that has any realistic chance of becoming law.

It proposes steep cuts in many domestic programs and increases in spending on the military and other programs that will appeal to Trump’s base as he campaigns for voters to return him to office for another four years.

The Trump blueprint calls for a 22% cut to the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development’s budgets for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The Education Department's budget would be slashed by $5.6 billion, or 7.8%. The Environmental Protection Agency's budget would shrink by $2.4 billion, a 26% cut that is sure to meet resistance from Democrats in Congress.

The Energy Department would see an 8.1% cut, while Health and Human Services' budget would be slashed by 10%, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget would shrink by 15.2%.

Military spending would jump by 0.3%. Homeland Security's budget would rise by $1.6 billion, a 3.2% increase. NASA would see a 12% increase, while Veterans Affairs would get a 14% boost.

While Democrats control the House, Trump’s budget stands no chance of winning approval in Congress. White House Budget Director Russ Vought acknowledged as much Monday, saying lawmakers ignored the president’s spending cut proposals for the past three years.

“The first three budgets have not moved in our direction,” he said.

Vought said the budget reflects Trump's "pro-growth" economic policies while funding "national priorities."

House Democrats signaled they have no plans to go along with Trump’s proposals.

“The budget is a statement of values, and once again, the president is showing just how little he values the good health, financial security and well-being of hardworking American families,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., chairman of the House Budget Committee, called the spending proposal “a destructive and irrational budget.”

“Congress will stand firm against this president’s broken promises and his disregard for the human cost of his destructive policies,” he said.

Overall, Trump’s budget will seek $4.4 trillion in savings over a decade – $2 trillion of which would come from savings from entitlements, including $130 billion from changes to Medicare prescription drug pricing.

Democrats said that would amount to a half-a-trillion-dollar cut to Medicare, roughly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid and a $24 billion cut to Social Security.

Vought insisted Medicare and Medicaid would merely be reformed, not cut. “Reducing the cost of health care is not a cut,” he said.

Trump made a similar argument, telling governors during a meeting Monday, “We’re not touching Medicare. ... We’re not touching Social Security.”

Last month, Trump opened the door to overhauling entitlement programs such as Medicare, saying during a television appearance in Davos, Switzerland, that “tremendous growth” in the economy would make it easier to restructure such programs.

Entitlement cuts?Trump says he'd 'take a look' at changing entitlements such as Medicare

We will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget. Only the Democrats will destroy them by destroying our Country’s greatest ever Economy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2020

The Trump administration projects economic growth of 3% over the next several years. The economy grew 2.3% in 2019, falling short of Trump’s promise of at least 3%, according to data released last month by the Commerce Department.

Trump asks Congress for $2 billion for construction of a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico, one of his signature promises from his 2016 presidential campaign. That is less than the $5 billion sought last year in border wall funding, a request that triggered a record-setting, 35-day government shutdown last winter after congressional Democrats refused to approve the money. The $2 billion would build about 82 miles of wall, the latest contribution to the 1,000-mile project.

The administration's request for the Justice Department is 2.3% less than the current year, largely due to a $505 million cut for a prison that is no longer needed because the federal prison population is declining. The administration would also eliminate $244 million in annual funding for a program that reimburses state and local governments for incarcerating undocumented immigrants.

Much of the funding request will be allotted for violent crime prevention, immigration enforcement and human trafficking prosecution, as well as reentry programs under the First Step Act, a sentencing reform law that led to the release of 2,200 nonviolent inmates last year.

Trump proposes spending billions on health care, infrastructure, business loans and internet access in rural America, part of his constituency as he seeks reelection in November.

Among the programs is $25 billion for a new “Revitalizing Rural America” grant program to help areas with broadband, transportation, water and road and bridge projects; $614 million in funding for water and wastewater grants and loans; and $690 million in loans to finance broadband infrastructure deployment of rural telecommunication facilities.

Money for rural America: Trump budget proposal pitches billions for rural America, a key constituency in 2020

Supporters of the programs Trump looks to cut warned of the consequences of slashing their budgets.

Adm. Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter warning congressional leaders Friday that cuts to international affairs programs are “out of touch with the reality around the world.”

“This is a moment when more investment in diplomacy and development is needed, not less,” Mullen wrote.

The Trump blueprint calls for slashing U.S. spending on global health programs by 34%, which might draw particular ire amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“At a time when we are faced with a global health threat with the coronavirus, the Trump administration is doubling down on its efforts to gut the very programs needed to protect American lives,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “This is not just shortsighted, it’s actually dangerous.”

He said Congress would work across party lines to come up with “a realistic and responsible budget” that would not undermine American leadership in the world.

Republican strategist Rick Tyler, a frequent Trump critic, took issue with the administration's budget proposal.

“Politically, with its proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – all programs Trump promised not to touch – it’s a gift to Democrats," he said.

Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen, Bart Jansen and Kristine Phillips