Much of what Trump proposes in his 2019 budget is what he proposed last year. It didn’t go far in Congress and this one probably won’t either.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year funds some of his major priorities – including a wall along the border with Mexico and a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan.
Unveiled Monday, the $4.4 trillion spending plan now heads to the GOP-controlled Congress where it’s expected to get a cool reception even from key Republican lawmakers who already rejected many of the same cuts proposed in the president’s 2018 budget plan Trump proposed last year.
In addition, Senate Democrats are likely to fight Trump’s decision not to recommend funding domestic programs as much as a recently negotiated congressional spending deal would allow. The budget proposes spending $57 billion less in domestic spending than Congress authorized just three days ago.
Here are seven takeaways from the budget:
The request looks quite a bit like the fiscal 2018 budget which, by the way, wasn’t very warmly received by congressional leaders last year who endorsed spending bills that rejected many of the cuts Trump recommended. The plan also proposes deep domestic cuts to health assistance, foreign aid, and housing programs and slashes state grants for education, the environment and community redevelopment. Don’t expect many of the proposals to go very far, especially in a year when most lawmakers are up for re-election.
The International Space Station as a commercial venture? The Trump administration aims to privatize the orbiting lab by 2025, redirecting billions it would save toward a lunar exploration program. The budget calls for NASA to turn over ISS operations to commercial and/or international partners after 2024. It’s an idea that’s already facing skepticism from key lawmakers including Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Ted Cruz. Congress already has directed NASA to study the feasibility of extending ISS operations to at least 2028. It costs the space agency about $3 billion a year to run the station.
While Trump promised during his presidential run not to cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, he continues to propose changes to those programs. In addition to seeking major savings in Medicaid for the second year in a row, Trump also wants to find more than $554 billion in Medicare savings. Targets include paying less to some providers, drug makers and hospitals. And the budget includes proposed savings similar to last year’s requested cuts for Social Security’s disability insurance program.
As he did last year, Trump is proposing major cuts in safety-net programs. He would slow the growth in Medicaid and cut funding for food stamps and the welfare cash-assistance program. The administration also wants to increase the focus on work requirements for all three programs. The budget proposal also axes a grant program for states used to support social services such as child care assistance. And, for the second year in a row, the administration wants to end a program that helps the elderly and low-income people pay their heating and power bills.
Trump wants to save $675 billion by repealing the Affordable Care Act, despite the fact that Congress is even less likely to have the votes to make the changes than they did in their failed 2017 attempt to scrap the Obama-era health care law. The budget proposes repealing the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid and limiting the amount of money states receive for the jointly-funded health care program for the poor. It would also end after two years the private insurance subsidies for people who don’t get coverage through a government program or an employer, while giving states grants to develop their own programs. While Trump has said Congress “essentially repealed” Obamacare, he was talking about the elimination of penalties for people who don’t have insurance and for employers who don’t provide coverage to workers. And lawmakers are unlikely to pass a budget blueprint that would let them make policy changes to Medicaid through a simple majority in the Senate.
The congressional budget deal that lifted spending caps known as the “sequester” that Congress imposed in 2011 seems to already be making a difference. Both defense and non-defense spending would see a boost in Trump’s proposal, though the president is not proposing to spend as much as the caps allow because of the increase to the national debt.
Here are a few of the beneficiaries from the additional spending: $10 billion address the opioid epidemic and serious mental illness. The budget proposes $9.2 billion to return funding for the National Institute of Health to 2017 funding levels; $1.5 billion for workforce development grants; and $1.7 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to hold harmless elderly and disabled households in HUD-assisted housing.
The administration wants states and local communities to pick up more of the bill for various services. The amount of money states would receive for Medicaid – one of the largest sources of federal funding to states – would be limited. Under Trump’s proposed new infrastructure incentives, the federal government would pick up 10% to 20% of a project’s cost instead of the federal government’s traditional 80% share.
The budget also revives a plan to slash by 45% state and tribal assistance grants that help carry out a number of federal directives to inspect toxic sites and monitor pesticides. The administration also proposes cutting some state and local grant programs, such as for rural water infrastructure, teacher training and the Community Development Block Grants that have been a bread-and-butter source for local communities for decades.
Contributing: James Dean, Florida Today
