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Trump’s $4.8 trillion budget proposal revisits rejected cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.8 trillion election year budget plan on Monday that recycles deep, previously rejected cuts to domestic programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and housing as the recipe for wrestling the federal budget back into balance.

Trump’s fiscal 2021 plan promises the government’s deficit will crest above $1 trillion only for the current budget year before steadily decreasing to more manageable levels, but only by relying on optimistic economic projections, dramatically scaled-back military operations overseas, and proposed cuts to agency budgets that run directly opposite to two previous budget deals signed by Trump.

The budget “sets the course for a future of continued American dominance and prosperity,” Trump said in a message accompanying the document.

“There is optimism that was not here before 63 million Americans asked me to work for them and drain the swamp,” Trump said. “For decades, Washington elites told us that Americans had no choice but to accept stagnation, decay, and decline. We proved them wrong. Our economy is strong once more.” In a White House appearance, Trump said, ”

The plan had no chance even before Trump’s impeachment scorched Washington. Its cuts to food stamps, farm subsidies, subsidized housing for the poor, Medicaid and student loans couldn’t pass when Republicans controlled Congress, much less now with liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., setting the agenda.

Trump’s budget follows a familiar formula that exempts seniors from politically toxic cuts to Medicare and Social Security while targeting benefit safety net programs for the poor, domestic programs like clean energy and student loan subsidies. It again proposes to dramatically slash funding for overseas military operations to save $567 billion over 10 years but adds $1.5 trillion over the same time frame to make his 2017 tax cuts permanent law.

Trump’s proposal would cut $465 billion from Medicare providers such as hospitals, which prompted howls from Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden, who said it “eviscerates Medicare,” while top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump is planning to “rip away health care from millions of Americans” with cuts to Medicare and the Medicaid health program for the poor.

Trump’s GOP allies generally issued only faint praise if commenting at all. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., called it “just a list of suggestions” while top House Budget Committee Republican Steve Womack of Arkansas took aim at its rosy predictions of economic growth and lower interest rates, both of which help Trump’s budget add up.

Trump’s budget would also shred last year’s hard-won budget deal between the White House and Pelosi by imposing an immediate 5% cut to non-defense agency budgets passed by Congress. Slashing cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and taking about $900 billion out of Medicaid over a decade are also nonstarters on Capitol Hill, but both the White House and Democrats are hopeful of progress this spring on prescription drug prices.

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