Trump’s Proposed 2020 Budget Plan

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March 13, 2019

President Trump proposed a $4.7 trillion budget plan Monday that would dramatically expand spending on programs and initiatives popular with Republicans and would contradict the goals of the Democrats trying to remove him from power in the 2020 election.

In the proposed budget, $750 billion in new defense spending and $8.6 billion for barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. At the same time, it would drastically spending on Medicaid, food stamps, environmental protections and other programs that Democratic presidential candidates vowed to preserve and expand.

Some agencies, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of State, Transportation, Education and Interior would see their budgets severely reduced, with the EPA having the most funds cut at 31%. The Commerce Department budget would increase in preparation for the 2020 Census, but Democrats said the census money was still insufficient.

Some of President Trump’s GOP allies, on the other hand, were hesitant to fully embrace it.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said the proposal was “the first step in the federal budget process and will allow us to consider how his priorities align with the priorities of Congress.”

Democrat opponents, however, are using the proposal as ammunition in 2020. House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said the White House spending blueprint would give presidential challengers plenty of material to show how their agenda is different.

“If I were running against him I would sure use it against him,” he said.

Key proposed additions 

 The Budget allocates more than $33 billion to the Department of Defense budget, for a total of $718 billion, 57% of the proposed federal discretionary budget.

 The Budget appropriates $8.6 billion to build sections of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, on top of the close to $7 billion Trump already announced in his national emergency declaration.

It reserves $750 million to establish a paid parental leave program and $1 billion for a one-time fund to help lower class populations and encourage company investment in child-care.

President Trump’s plan also claims $291 million toward ending the spread of HIV in the United States within a decade, a promise Trump made in his State of the Union last month.

Key proposed cuts

 $845 billion over the next 10 years will be cut from Medicare, the federal program that gives health insurance to older Americans.

 $241 billion will be taken from Medicaid, the health-care program for low-income Americans, over the next decade as part of an overhaul that shifts more power to states.

The budget also slashes $220 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next 10 years, with proposed reforms including mandatory work requirements and food box delivery service in place of cash benefits for low-income families

Reductions to Federal student loan programs that total $207 billion in the next 10 years and include eliminating Public Service Loan Forgiveness and subsidized student loans would be enacted.