CBS-Seattle: Trump Budget Targets Taxpayer Waste 68_new_budget

February 11, 2020 02:38 PM
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WASHINGTON (SBG) -- The blueprint for President Donald Trump’s future priorities is now official with his proposed budget, in print, and now in the hands of Congress.

 

“We have a deficit and debt problem in this country. This president is balancing the budget in 15 years, offering more deficit reduction than any president in history,” said Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, in an interview Monday.”

 

He added that one new focus this year targets waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. “We got it. We want to get rid of the Bob Dylan statue in Mozambique. We want to get rid of the professional cricket live in Afghanistan," Vought said.

 

While non-Defense spending would decrease by a full 5% under the White House's proposed budget, the military would get even more money, a 0.3% increase.

 

"The Department of Defense spent $9,300 on a club leather chair and they spent $4.6 million on lobster tail and snow crab in the final month of the fiscal year," said Adam Andrzejewski, CEO & Founder of Open the Books, a government watchdog group.”

 

Meanwhile, Trump is proposing a 21% decrease to foreign aid and deep cuts to food stamps, affordable housing and student loans and disability benefits to offset some of the deficits that grew following the Tax Cut and Jobs act.

 

“He just ballooned the debt when he cut taxes deeply for very wealthy people and especially for big corporations who spent most of that money not giving their employees wage increases but in terms of stock buybacks to wealthy stockholders," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

 

It is important to note this proposal is simply a White House wishlist, since Congress holds the power of the purse.

 

With Democrats in charge in the House of Representatives, the final budget will likely look a lot different than what American's are seeing now.

 
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