It Looks Like a Major Round of Budget Cuts is On Its Way

The incoming Trump administration has launched its first salvo at the bloated budget that is currently harming America’s growth and competitiveness in the world. The Hill is reporting that the president-elect has the Transportation, Justice and State departments squarely in the cross hairs of budget reduction. Alexander Bolton reports that the proposed cuts could trim $10.5 trillion off of the budget over the next ten years. He writes:

Overall, the blueprint being used by Trump’s team would reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years.

The proposed cuts hew closely to a blueprint published last year by the conservative Heritage Foundation, a think tank that has helped staff the Trump transition.

Similar proposals have in the past won support from Republicans in the House and Senate, who believe they have an opportunity to truly tackle spending after years of warnings about the rising debt.

Many of the specific cuts were included in the 2017 budget adopted by the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), a caucus that represents a majority of House Republicans. The RSC budget plan would reduce federal spending by $8.6 trillion over the next decade.

Two members of Trump’s transition team are discussing the cuts at the White House budget office: Russ Vought, a former aide to Vice President-elect Mike Pence and the former executive director of the RSC, and John Gray, who previously worked for Pence, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) when Ryan headed the House Budget Committee.