In Washington, D.C., In a budget plan released Wednesday by House Republicans, many of President Donald Trump’s top domestic goals are set to move forward. The plan includes up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so the U.S. can keep paying its bills.
A number of House committees are also told in the budget plan to cut spending by at least $1.5 trillion. The goal is to cut spending by $2 trillion over 10 years.
The plan is the first step in a long legislative process that will let Republicans get some of their most important ideas passed with just a simple majority vote. Thursday is when the House Budget Committee is likely to vote on the plan. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said it would be easy to get it out of committee.
He added, “Then we’ll work with everyone this week to make sure they’re on board.”
Johnson set a tight schedule for moving the resolution and the legislation that comes after it, but there are still disagreements within the Republican party about how big the proposed cuts to taxes and spending should be. Some people want bigger tax cuts than what’s in the plan, while others want bigger cuts to spending.
Johnson said, “There’ll be a lot of back and forth talks.” “There’s a lot of moving parts to this, but our objective is to fulfill all the president’s campaign promises and the full agenda, so we have time to do that.”
A budget resolution is often seen as a statement of objectives. The 45-page plan, on the other hand, is more than just a policy outline; it tells House committees exactly how to change the way government money flows. In order to save a lot of money, GOP leaders want to cut social services, especially Medicaid.
Over the next ten years, the Energy and Commerce Committee is asked to cut $880 billion in spending on health care. The Education and Workforce Committee is also asked to cut $330 billion in spending. Two groups have been asked to save a total of $230 billion. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has been asked to find at least $10 billion in savings by 2034.
Some programs would be cut, but money would be moved to other Trump priorities. For example, the Armed Services Committee would increase defense spending by $100 billion over the next ten years, and the Homeland Security Department, which is carrying out Trump’s plan to deport a huge number of immigrants, would get an extra $90 billion.
Democrats in the House were very critical of the spending plan.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a joint press conference where they said that since the Republicans took control of the White House and both houses of Congress, they have not done anything to lower costs for everyone.
“Why?” “Their main goal is to get huge tax cuts for their billionaire donors and big businesses,” Jeffries said. “That’s what the Republican budget is all about.”
Democrats also worry that the plan could mean less money for the safety net. The top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Rep. Brendan Boyle, said that the tax cuts won’t pay for themselves through faster economic growth, so the government will look for ways to cut programs like Medicaid.
“Their plan blows up the deficit and makes the middle class pay for it,” the lawmaker from Philadelphia said. “In the form of higher prices, deep cuts to essential programs, or both.”
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