Posted on 10/17/2018 10:14:32 AM PDT by BenLurkin
"We're going to be asking for a 5 percent cut from every secretary today," Trump told reporters at the White House in advance of a meeting with those secretaries.
The proposal comes days after the Trump administration announced a $779 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2018 — a six-year high and a 17 percent jump from the prior period.
"He's asking them to cut the fraud, the waste, the abuse," White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox Business News. "Cut the fat, not the essentials." Trump had said in an earlier interview on the network that "We're going to cut spending, absolutely."
"It's not as tough as you think, and frankly there's a lot of fat in there," Trump added, while noting that "we had to get the military done last time." Trump signed a $716 billion defense spending bill into law in August.
The president did not mention any specific area of government spending he planned to examine for cuts. But he also said during the interview that his administration will "continue with the tax cuts, because we have other tax cuts planned."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
So the 7% base-line budget “slashed” by 5% equals a modest 2% increase?
It’s a start. When’s the last time ANY president has suggested a cut?
I wonder if any of them had seen the movie “Dave”. Too simplistic ?
Hmmmm…..
My sense is that a cabinet secretary doesn’t have to spend the money. The POTUS executes what the Congress approves in the way he chooses, so far as I know. IF they get to the end of the year with 5% left in their accounts, and then the next year they end up with another 5%, then what?
Put it on the debt as far as it will go?
Cut the damn pensions.
i agree.
I don’t like across the board percentage cuts. They are gutless. Trump needs to eliminate useless programs.
Just remove the Diversity Departments from HR. Problem solved.
How about zero-based budgeting? This idea that you take what you asked for last FY and bump it up X% is BS. It means that waste is never curtailed. A private enterprise would never survive “budgeting” like the government does. The government needs to have a “bottom line” too, not give us what we think we need.
That’s what I would do, but I think Congress would have to authorize it. I guess they just turn it back over to the treasury
Some cabinets, yes. The EPA: 98% The DoEd: 98% The State Dept: 75% (except for embassy/consulate security).
But Nixon did it to 4% of the budget so Congress sued him and won, so presidents don't have the authority
Do an internet search of Impoundment
I predict this is the last we hear about this idea.
Dems already whining about chaos and damage to programs
Women and children hardest hit.
Reagan was the only one to accomplish. Took both terms but he did it I think for all but one.........
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