White House budget director: Trump budget proves president 'keeping his promises'

02/27/17 04:12 PM EST



President Trump’s White House budget director said Monday the administration's budget blueprint would cut more than $50 billion from non-defense discretionary spending, boosting military funding while making major cuts to programs including foreign aid.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said that the administration's first budget outline would reflect promises Trump made to build up the military and down on aid to foreign countries, all while not adding to the projected fiscal 2018 budget deficit.

“It’s the president keeping his promises and doing exactly what he said he was going to do,” said Mulvaney at the White House press briefing. “We are taking his words and we turning them into policies and dollars.”

Mulvaney said agency heads received Monday their total funding limits for the year and would mull spending changes with the White House. He said the White House will release a budget blueprint outlining basic expenditures on March 16, while a full budget with policy and economic projections would be released in early May.Newly elected presidents typically release budget blueprints before full comprehensive proposals in their first year while they staff their administration and develop policies.

Trump will propose $603 billion for discretionary defense spending, a $54 billion increase from mandatory spending caps passed in 2011. Trump and his aides have called the funding boost “unprecedented,” but congressional defense hawks have called the proposal too low to meet military needs. Trump could also get pushback from fiscal conservatives concerned about ballooning defense costs and what they consider ineffective and wasteful spending.

Trump will also propose $462 billion in non-defense discretionary spending, or spending not locked into entitlement programs like Social Security or Medicare, said Mulvaney.

Mulvaney said cuts would come from State Department foreign aid, and multiple media outlets reported Sunday that Trump would seeks major cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Such cuts are intended to help fund the $54 billion military buildup. But not even eliminating all discretionary spending at the State Department (around $38 billion) and the EPA (roughly $8 billion) would be able to fund the defense spending boost, according to Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

While Mulvaney said Trump’s March budget outline wouldn’t address Social Security or Medicare, he didn’t rule out future entitlement reforms.

Trump promised during the campaign not to cut Social Security or Medicare payments for current beneficiaries, a pledge backed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during his confirmation hearings.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump stands by his promise not to cut benefits for current recipients, but did not answer whether Trump would consider cuts for future beneficiaries.

“The president understands the commitment that was made to seniors,'" said Spicer. “Regardless of whether you voted for him or not, whether or not you agree with his policies, he’s a man of his word.”

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/32...g-his-promises