Trump Just Blindsided Congress In Genius Move, Sends Paul Ryan Scrambling
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Washington, D.C. has been in a whirlwind this past week. It seems as though they always are. But this time it is because President Trump now wants Congress and the Senate to repeal close to $1.3 trillion in the spending bill that was recently past. Something he signed into law this past month. However, the media has been negatively reporting on it and Congressional Democrats are none to pleased. It remains to be seen what will happen next and if President Trump’s plan will gain any traction.
The New York Post reported,
“Suffering from signer’s remorse, President Trump now wants Congress to repeal some of the $1.3 trillion spending bill he signed into law last month. “We are looking at an enhanced rescission package,” new White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow confirmed on “Fox News Sunday.”
The massive spending package beefed up domestic and military spending but didn’t include the money that Trump wanted to build his wall on the Mexican border and a legislative fix to protect young undocumented immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The bipartisan deal was forged in Congress to keep the government funded through September.
Trump and Republicans got an earful from their base about adding to the deficit and not demanding border wall funding. Now, the White House is working with Congress on new legislation to undo some of the spending. “I think the Republican Party on the Hill has finally figured out it’s really not a bad idea to trim some spending,” said Kudlow, White House National Economic Council Director. “Because after all, spending can lead to deficits and spending interferes with the economy. ”
“President Trump is a deregulator and a tax cutter. We want a much more modest government role,” he continued. Trump had initially threatened on Twitter to veto the spending bill but caved into signing the hard-fought bipartisan deal to avoid a government shutdown. Now, the White House and GOP leaders in the House and Senate are drafting a plan to rescind billions of dollars in spending, Axios reported Sunday.
One possible target could be foreign aid. Negotiators set a target of a $60 billion claw back but have acknowledged a smaller goal is more likely to pass the GOP-controlled House and Senate. Congress returns to work this week following a two-week spring break recess.”
One of the biggest concerns that people have about the rescission package is the alleged potential cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Funding allotments in 2017 for the fiscal year were $15.8 billion for the program. While media outlets are saying that $7 billion will be cut from CHIP in reality they are misrepresenting what is going on. The money regarding CHIP is money that was never used from fiscal year 2017. Not money that is allotted for next year and being taken away. The CHIP money under consideration for modification never even touched CHIP and was unused from the previous year.
The Heritage Foundation reported,
“It’s a good first step toward re-establishing fiscal responsibility. Congress should embrace it and quickly adopt the president’s rescission package. Still, the package does nothing to claw back the tens of billions of additional dollars in wasteful spending authorized by the 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Act. Nor is it the answer to the nation’s long-term debt problem.
Congress and the president should work together on additional rescission packages that target 2018 spending and pass a fiscal year 2019 budget that rolls back the latest budget deal and addresses the programs driving the national debt. The president’s rescission package would take back $15 billion in previously provided spending authority. Of that, $7 billion would come from funds provided in 2017 to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP. No authority was ever actually granted to CHIP to spend that money.
The obvious question: If the money was never going to be spent anyway, then how is it “saving” taxpayers money to rescind it? CHIP rescissions have been abused by Congress as one of the most common budget gimmicks to pay for unrelated spending. By rescinding these funds and returning them to the Treasury, they can’t be used to pay for other spending.