WEST WING MHI Daily

President Trump’s 2020 Budget Calls for $2.7T in Spending Cuts, Promises to Erase Deficit in 15 Years “President Trump will unveil his fiscal 2020 budget request to Congress on Monday which calls for $2.7 trillion in spending cuts and balances [the budget] in 15 years,” Melissa Quinn reports for the Washington Examiner. The President’s spending plan prioritizes core responsibilities for the Federal Government, “including strengthening border security to address the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, and tackling the opioid crisis.” The plan will also keep taxes low while cutting wasteful spending to refocus money on providing quality services for the American people. Since Trump took office, the national debt has risen more than $2 trillion and currently stands at more than $22 trillion, a record high. But the president’s budget takes aim at government spending by calling for a 5 percent reduction in nondefense discretionary spending that will keep the budget under statutory spending caps. With the proposals included in the request for Congress, projections indicate the budget would be balanced by 2034, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The spending plan seeks to boost border security and immigration enforcement to address what Trump has said is a crisis at the southern border. Trump has long urged Congress to provide him with money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but had little success even when the GOP controlled both chambers. An impasse over wall funding led to a 35-day partial government shutdown that stretched from just before Christmas until the end of January.Despite the fervent opposition from Democrats, Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal will seek an additional $8.6 billion for the border wall, according to reports. Pushing for additional wall funding, however, could lead to another partial government shutdown, Democratic leaders warned Sunday. To further address the situation at the southern border, the president’s budget calls for increases in the workforce for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, as well as policy changes to end sanctuary cities, which Trump has attempted to penalize through other actions. To combat the opioid epidemic, a key priority for the Trump administration, the fiscal blueprint envisions continued investments in prevention, treatment, research, and recovery. It also calls for the creation of new platforms “for delivering services to the American people” as part of the administration’s efforts to modernize the federal government. Taking aim at higher education institutions, Trump’s fiscal 2020 spending plan requires colleges and universities “to share a portion of the financial responsibility associated with federal student loans.” It also allocates $80 billion for veterans, roughly a 10 percent boost from fiscal 2019, and, with an eye on defense, provides investments “in the capabilities and domains critical to future conflicts,” including space, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics.The president’s full fiscal year 2020 budget request will be unveiled Monday morning.

OMB Acting Director Russ Vought: “Spending Addiction Threatens American Economic Resurgence” “The president’s budget was written with the everyday American taxpayer in mind. All across the country, hardworking taxpayers have to balance their household budgets, finding ways to do more with less and save for the future. Our federal agencies and departments should be held to the same level of responsibility and accountability,” Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought writes in Fox News. “It’s time for Congress to come to the table, work with the president, and rein in Washington’s spending addiction.” GREEN NEW DEAL WOULD COST UP TO $93 TRILLION, OR $600G PER HOUSEHOLD, STUDY SAYS It is no secret that our nation’s $22 trillion debt, which nearly doubled under the Obama administration, is unsustainable. The Congressional Budget Office warned just weeks ago that, if left unchecked, our national debt would “reduce national saving and income, boost the government’s interest payments, limit lawmakers’ ability to respond to unforeseen events, and increase the likelihood of a fiscal crisis.” Understanding this threat, President Trump on Monday unveils A Budget for a Better America; a new outline for government spending that invests in critical national priorities while restraining spending to give taxpayers the best value for their tax dollar. In total, the president’s 2020 Budget keeps his promise of a 5 percent cut to non-defense discretionary spending, reduces deficits by over $2.7 trillion over 10 years, and balances the budget in 15 years, by 2034. Since his first year in office, and again in the budget we are laying out, President Trump has pushed for more reductions to wasteful Washington spending than any other president in history. Unfortunately, Congress has repeatedly ignored these taxpayer savings and plowed ahead with irresponsible budgets that increase our deficits and size of government. This needs to stop. It’s not that Americans are taxed too little, it’s that Washington spends too much. The president’s budget was written with the everyday American taxpayer in mind. All across the country, hardworking taxpayers have to balance their household budgets, finding ways to do more with less and save for the future. Our federal agencies and departments should be held to the same level of responsibility and accountability. Throughout the process of creating this budget, the administration identified a number of wasteful, duplicative, and ineffective programs that should not be funded by your tax dollars. For instance, $68 million is being spent every year on international labor activities, including promoting unions in countries in South America. The Department of Labor Inspector General found fraud and abuse within the Senior Community Service Employment Program where its largest grantee misused nearly $4.2 million in taxpayer funds on unreasonable executive compensation, personal travel, and even Netflix subscriptions. Over $600 million is spent a year on 85 education and cultural exchange programs, despite the fact that only 1 percent of the 1 million international students that came to the U.S. in the 2017-2018 academic year came through one of these programs. And the government spends $35,000 per student – more than tuition at many universities – to send tens of thousands of youth to poorly run Job Corps centers. These centers are ineffective at helping participants get jobs and allowed nearly 14,000 safety and security incidents in 2017 alone—including 31 deaths, over 2,000 violent assaults, and nearly 4,000 drug-related incidents. This has to stop. President Trump’s budget would restructure, reduce, and in many cases eliminate wasteful discretionary programs. Recognizing the long-term implications of mandatory program spending, the budget includes more than $1.9 trillion in savings and reforms over ten years while extending the solvency of these programs and keeping our promise to America’s seniors. By refocusing the budget to spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently and effectively, agencies will be able to more adequately provide necessary services to the American people. And key national priorities like the following will continue to be met: Restoring Our Military. The budget includes $750 billion for national defense to support the rebuilding of our military. This provides the resources necessary to support the National Defense Strategy, including funding for the largest pay increase in a decade for our military, procurement of 12 battle force ships and 110 fighter aircraft, and creation of the United States Space Force. Securing Our Border. To adequately secure our border and ensure the safety and security of the American people, the budget includes $8.6 billion for construction of the border barrier, and $506 million to hire over 2,800 additional law enforcement officers and critical support personnel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Exclusive: White House And Ivanka Trump Propose New Spending On Child Care In NPR, Tamara Keith reports that Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump is leading a White House effort to increase the availability and affordability of child care in the United States. “The centerpiece is a proposed one-time investment of $1 billion to increase the supply of child care to underserved populations. States would apply for funding and could use it to encourage employers large and small to invest in child care or to support child care providers that operate during nontraditional work hours or that cater to parents who are enrolled in school.” “We want to encourage innovation,” said Ivanka Trump. “We want to encourage the private sector to step up.” To get the money, states would have to “establish targets for reducing unnecessary regulatory or other requirements that limit the supply or increase the cost of child care.” A White House aide said this isn’t meant to roll back regulations on child-to-caregiver ratios but rather to get rid of zoning requirements in some areas that don’t allow child care centers in residential districts, for instance. It would be implemented through the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, which in the past two years saw its funding significantly boosted by Congress in spending bills ultimately signed by President Trump. A White House official, who declined to speak on the record because the budget is not yet public, said the president’s 2020 budget proposal calls for spending $5.3 billion on the program, the same level that Congress set aside in 2019 and a big increase over what past Trump administration budgets asked for. The $1 billion one-time fund would come on top of that. Ivanka Trump said, “Continuing to make sure we fund the programs adequately” is key, while also talking up the increase in the child tax credit included in the Republican tax law passed in late 2017. Trump greeted the researchers, child care providers and representatives of business groups in the Roosevelt Room before going around the table asking about challenges and soliciting ideas for solutions. She chimed in occasionally to amplify someone’s point or to ask questions. Here are some of the challenges that Trump and the experts she met with identified in that White House meeting: The early years are critical for brain development but quality, safe, affordable child care is often hard to come by. There are mile-long waiting lists for care that, for many families, costs more than their housing. And yet, a lot of child care workers can’t make ends meet. As Trump talked about the challenges, she framed it in a way that Democrats have for years — not as a “mom’s problem” or a “families’ problem” but as an impediment to economic growth. Economic strain Chad Dunkley, CEO of New Horizon Academy, a child care provider, attended the listening session and has advocated for more child care funding on Capitol Hill. “I think there’s a growing bipartisan consensus that we have to do more to build the financial security of young families in this country,” said Dunkley. “They have to feel confident they can grow their families here, and if they don’t, our economy is going to be in trouble.” That economic strain is already evident in low birthrates and stalled labor force participation, Dunkley said. The White House was asked about proposed funding levels in the 2020 budget for Head Start, another major early childhood program, but that information was not forthcoming. President Trump included child care in his 2016 campaign, and as his re-election efforts ramp up, the White House has put a focus on selling the idea that he has kept his campaign promises. That said, this new proposal isn’t remotely close to what Trump campaigned on. Campaign issue for Democrats It comes as child care is already a 2020 campaign issue, with Democratic candidates, including Elizabeth Warren, rolling out child care-for-all plans. “How much you make at your job should not determine the quality of care your child gets. That’s why for millions of families who need it, access to these child care options will be free,” Warren said in a video announcing her plan. In Congress there are child care bills from Democrats in both the House and the Senate designed to stimulate growth in child care availability, defray costs for families that can’t afford it and pay providers a living wage. The price tags on these plans run tens of billions of dollars each year, vastly more than the White House proposal. The White House official said these Democratic plans would cost “unsustainable amounts of taxpayer dollars,” adding that Ivanka Trump sees her role as “an advocate for producing legislation that actually has a viable path forward.” Asked if she could work with Ivanka Trump on child care, Sen. Patty Murray from Washington state, a leading Democrat on the issue, was polite. “I’m excited that more people are aware of the barrier that child care is to working families in order to achieve their economic dreams and take care of their families,” said Murray. “So we welcome all ideas, but they have to be real ideas.” There’s plenty of agreement on the problems but not yet on the solutions. Asked which members of Congress the Trump administration had reached out to on the issue, the White House official said simply that Ivanka Trump looks forward to working with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

MS-13 made up half of all gang members caught at the border in 2018 “MS-13 members made up more than half of the 808 gang members Border Patrol agents apprehended at international boundaries in fiscal 2018, according to newly released data,” Anna Giaritelli reports in the Washington Examiner. “MS-13 apprehensions at the border are up significantly from 228 in 2017 and 253 in 2016, according to Customs and Border Protection data.”Five years ago, a total 437 MS-13 affiliates were arrested. The total number of people encountered by CBP was around 690,000 both in 2016 and 2018. Two freshmen House Republicans — Chip Roy of Texas and Mark Green of Tennessee — are spearheading an attempt to persuade the State Department to officially classify some international drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Green, a military doctor who was present at the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003, said some organizations that move drugs across international borders rely on the same “barbaric tactics” ISIS and al Qaeda use, including “murdering and torturing innocents, destabilizing countries and assassinating members of law enforcement.” Roy and Green added the drug crisis facing America stems from the opioid cartels moving into the country through the southern border. The 18th Street Gang, a multi-ethnic transnational organization, had 145 of its members snagged by Border Patrol last year — more than double the previous year’s number. More than 60 Paisas and Surenos were each caught at the border. Other gangs with at least one member arrested were 107th Street, Barrio Azteca, Border Brothers, Chirizos, Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos, Latin Kings, Locos Surenos Trece, Mara-R, Maraville Salva Trucha, Mexican Mafia, Nortenos, South Los, Tango Blast, Texas Syndicate, VIlanos-13, Zeta, and others.

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