Trump administration budget proposal
The Trump administration proposed its 2018 budget on February 27, 2017, ahead of his address to Congress, outlining $54 billion in cuts to federal agencies and an increase in defense spending.[4] On March 16, 2017, President Trump sent his budget proposal to Congress, remaining largely unchanged from the initial proposal.[5]
CBO scoring of the budget
The Congressional Budget Office reported its evaluation of the budget on July 13, 2017, including its effects over the 2018–2027 period.
- Mandatory spending: The budget cuts mandatory spending by a net $2,033 billion (B) over the 2018–2027 period. This includes reduced spending of $1,891B for healthcare, mainly due to the proposed repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare); $238B in income security ("welfare"); and $100 billion in reduced subsidies for student loans. This savings would be partially offset by $200B in additional infrastructure investment.
- Discretionary spending: The budget cuts discretionary spending by a net $1,851 billion over the 2018–2027 period. This includes reduced spending of $752 billion for overseas contingency operations (defense spending in Afghanistan and other foreign countries), which is partially offset by other increases in defense spending of $448B, for a net defense cut of $304B. Other discretionary spending (cabinet departments) would be reduced by $1,548B.
- Revenues would be reduced by $1,000B, mainly by repealing the ACA, which had applied higher tax rates to the top 5% of income earners. Trump's budget proposal was not sufficiently specific to score other tax proposals; these were simply described as "deficit neutral" by the Administration.
- Deficits: CBO estimated that based on the policies in place as of the start of the Trump administration, the debt increase over the 2018–2027 period would be $10,112B. If all of President Trump's proposals were implemented, CBO estimated that the sum of the deficits (debt increases) for the 2018–2027 period would be reduced by $3,276B, resulting in $6,836B in total debt added over the period.[6]
- CBO estimated that the debt held by the public, the major subset of the national debt, would rise from $14,168B (77.0% GDP) in 2016 to $22,337B (79.8% GDP) in 2027 under the President's budget.[7]
Department and program changes
The proposed 2018 budget includes $54 billion in cuts to federal departments, and a corresponding increase in defense and military spending.[8][9]
| Department | Budget | Amount change | Percent change | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Agriculture | $17.9 billion | $-4.7 billion | −21% | Includes the elimination of food for education and water and wastewater loan programs. Decreases funding for the United States Forest Service by $118 million.[10] |
| Department of Commerce | $7.8 billion | $−1.4 billion | −16% | Includes cuts to coastal research programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the elimination of the Economic Development Administration |
| Department of Defense | $574 billion | $52 billion | +9% | Includes an increase in the size of the Army and Marine Corps, as well as the Naval fleet |
| Department of Education | $68.2 billion | $−9.2 billion | −14% | Cuts programs and grants for teacher training, after-school and summer care, and aid to low-income students. Eliminates $1.2 from the 21st Century Community Learning Center program and cuts $732 million from the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. Eliminates Striving Readers/Comprehensive Literacy Development Grants as well as cuts funding for Supporting Effective Instruction State grants by $2.3 billion[11]. |
| Department of Energy | $28 billion | $−1.7 billion | −6% | Largest cuts go to the Office of Science; ARPA-E and Departmental Loan Programs eliminated. Increases spending on National Nuclear Security Administration by 11.4% while slashing high energy physics and almost all other science programs (Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Infrastructure and Administration, Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists) by 18%. The only science program not to receive a cut is the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, which is to receive a small budget increase of $101 million. Money spent on the NNSA would go to the modernization and upkeep of nuclear weapons as well as $1.5 billion going to naval nuclear reactors. The budget cuts funding for energy programs by over 50% reducing the funding by $2.4 billion. Energy programs cut include: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Nuclear Energy, Fossil Energy Research and Development.[12][13] |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $65.1 billion | $−15.1 billion | −18% | Cuts funding for the National Institutes of Health and training programs |
| Department of Homeland Security | $44.1 billion | $2.8 billion | +7% | Increases spending on border security and immigration enforcement and builds a wall on the US-Mexico border. Cuts funding for certain FEMA grant programs. |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $40.7 billion | $−6.2 billion | −13% | Eliminates grant programs for community development, investment partnerships, home-ownership, and Section 4 affordable housing |
| Department of the Interior | $11.7 billion | $−1.6 billion | −12% | Eliminates over 4000 jobs. Eliminates funding for 49 National Historic Sites and decreases funding for land acquisition. Decreases funding for Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund. Cuts funding by $2 million for dealing with invasive species.[14][15] |
| Department of Justice | $27.7 billion | $−1.1 billion | −4% | Reduces spending on prison construction and reimbursements to state and local governments for incarceration of undocumented immigrants |
| Department of Labor | $9.6 billion | $−2.6 billion | −21% | Eliminates funding for senior-work programs, grants for non-profits and public agencies used for health training, and closes some Job Corps centers |
| State Department | $27.1 billion | $−10.9 billion | −29% | Eliminates funding for United Nations programs, including peacekeeping and climate change mitigation |
| Department of Transportation | $16.2 billion | $−2.4 billion | −13% | Eliminates funding for the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts grant program, long-distance Amtrak service, cuts the TIGER grant program and eliminates funding for the Essential Air Service. Air traffic control would be shifted to private service under the proposal. |
| Treasury Department | $11.2 billion | $−0.5 billion | −4% | Reduces funding for the Internal Revenue Service |
| Department of Veteran Affairs | $78.9 billion | $4.4 billion | +6% | Expands health services and the benefit claims system. Slashes disability benefits to 225,000 elderly veterans. The VA currently provides additional disability compensation benefits to Veterans, irrespective of age, who it deems unable to obtain or maintain gainful employment due to their service-connected disabilities through a program called Individual Unemployability (IU). The IU program is a part of VA's disability compensation program that allows VA to pay certain Veterans disability compensation at the 100 percent rate, even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at the total level. These Veterans have typically received an original disability ratings between 60 and 100 percent. Under this proposal, Veterans eligible for Social Security retirement benefits would have their IU terminated upon reaching the minimum retirement age for Social Security purposes, or upon enactment of the proposal if the Veteran is already in receipt of Social Security retirement benefits.These Veterans would continue to receive VA disability benefits based on their original disability rating, at the scheduler evaluation level. IU benefits would not be terminated for Veterans who are ineligible for Social Security retirement benefits, thus allowing them to continue to receive IU past minimum retirement age. Savings to the Compensation and Pensions account are estimated to be $3.2 billion in 2018, $17.9 billion over five years, and $40.8 billion over ten years.[16] |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $5.7 billion | $−2.5 billion | −31% | Eliminates more than 50 programs and 3,200 jobs |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) | $19.1 billion | $-0.1 billion | −1% | Cuts funding for Earth science programs and missions, and eliminates the Office of Education. Cuts funding for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate by $166 million (−21%). Cuts funding for Space Technology research by $148.4 million (−18%). Cuts funding for Human Exploration Operations by $4478.9 million (−53%). Cuts funding for the Education program by $62.7 million (−62.7%).[17][18] |
| Small Business Administration | $.8 billion | $−0.1 billion | −5% | Eliminates technical-assistance grant programs |
The $971 million budget for arts and cultural agencies, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities, would be eliminated entirely.
Criticism
Economist Joseph Stiglitz said about the 2018 budget proposal: "Trump's budget takes a sledgehammer to what remains of the American Dream". Senator Bernie Sanders also criticized the proposal: "This is a budget which says that if you are a member of the Trump family, you may receive a tax break of up to $4 billion, but if you are a child of a working-class family, you could well lose the health insurance you currently have through the Children's Health Insurance Program and massive cuts to Medicaid".[19]
