House Democrats have already stood against President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget, which proposed numerous cuts in domestic spending and a deficit-increasing defense spending, saying it is a non-starter. They stressed party leaders are preparing their own budget blueprint set to be released in a matter of weeks.
Trump’s acting budget director Russell Vought will head to Capitol Hill Tuesday where he is to face questions from House Democrats about the budget plan and the concerns raising from it about possible cuts to middle-class programs like Medicare and Social Security.
Democrats argue that cuts in these social programs would be “devastating” to Americans and the budget “is a recipe for American decline.”
The chairman of the House Budget Committee, John Yarmuth, said Monday that the plan was “an expression of priorities and values that I don’t think are shared by most Americans.”
The administration’s budget plan proposes cuts to funding for most federal agencies by $2.7 trillion, while increasing defense spending and appropriating $8.6 billion for a border wall. This would increase the deficit beyond the standard 10-year time horizon for federal budgeting, the White House says, arguing that the budget will balance in 15 years.
Democrats and Yarmuth do not agree with such optimistic forecasts, saying that the Congressional Budget Office’s forecasts of 2.3% growth are more realistic than the White House’s 3.2%.
Yarmuth did acknowledge, however, that there is likely to be disagreements within his own party with far-left Democrats pushing for funding for “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal, which will almost certainly be rejected by more moderate lawmakers.
He noted that the budget plan to be introduced by Democrats will not be divisive, stressing that he was meeting with lawmakers across the party’s ideological spectrum who are receptive to his plan.
“They seem to be pretty much on board with … the direction we’re moving in. They’re not putting a lot of pressure on us to include Green New Deal, that type of thing, in the budget document,” Yarmuth told reporters Monday.
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