Washington, DC – The budget project for the fiscal year of President Donald Trump, deepens in its political priorities: more spending on defense, sharp cuts in social programs such as Medicare, and more money for the controversial wall on the border with Mexico .
The plan, baptized as “Budget for a Better United States”, bets for a cut of 5% in the general federal expense, which supposes 2.7 trillions of dollars in next the 10 years, and of which it is exempt the military departure .
Among the programs that would see their funds reduced are Medicare, the health system for the elderly, which would include a reduction of 845 billion dollars in the next decade; and a Medicaid reform, designed for citizens with lower incomes.
Many of the federal agencies will also be affected, which would suffer cuts in their items, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (31%) and the Department of Education (10%).
“It’s not about Americans paying too few taxes, it’s about Washington spending too much,” said a senior White House official at a telephone press conference to unveil the new plan for fiscal year 2020, which starts at October of this year.
In contrast, Defense is the only category that sees its funds increased to 750,000 million dollars, 4.7% more than last year.
In a statement, Russell Vought, interim director of the Office of Budget and Management of the White House, remarked that the idea “is to invest in national priorities while restricting spending to give taxpayers the best value for every dollar. taxes”.
He also promised to progressively reduce the bulging budget deficits, which are expected to exceed one trillion dollars in the next two years, until the public accounts are balanced in 2034.
Trump also insists on its controversial border wall, requesting an additional $ 8,600 million for its construction, of which 5,000 would come from the budget of the Department of Homeland Security, while the remaining 3,600 million would come from the Department of Defense.
This project is more a declaration of priorities than a true budgetary plan, since it barely has the potential to move forward in a divided Congress, where the Republicans control the Senate and the Democrats the House of Representatives.
This drawing of priorities, however, serves the president to highlight his political intentions for the election campaign for the presidential next year.
The Democrats have already charged against Trump’s plan, and have shown their frontal rejection.
“The budget plan released this morning reflects the separation of the reality from the Trump Administration,” said the “number two” of the Democrats in the House, Steny H. Hoyer, in a statement.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who has already launched his campaign to achieve the Democratic presidential candidacy in 2020, said that “it is a budget for the military industrial complex, for Wall Street executives and millionaires.” .
“We do not need billions of dollars for a wall nobody wants, we want one that works for all Americans, not just for Donald Trump and his billionaire friends in Mar-A-Lago,” Sanders said of the luxury private residence. of the president in South Florida.
The plan is based on optimistic economic forecasts, with an estimated growth of 3.2% this year and 3.1% in 2020.
The first official calculation of economic activity in 2018 placed the expansion rate at 2.9%.
These estimates contrast with those of the Federal Reserve (Fed), the country’s central bank, which forecasts a progressive economic slowdown in growth for this year to 2.3% and 2% by 2020. (EFEUSA)
