BUDGET/POLITICS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/MICK MULVANEY: “Finally some good news for President Trump: His new budget stands absolutely no chance of being enacted by Congress.
Moving forward with the cuts outlined in the $4.1 trillion spending plan created by the budget director, Mick Mulvaney, formerly one of the most determined fiscal hawks in Congress, would no doubt have major repercussions and compound the peril of Republicans already facing upheaval over their health care proposals. It would most likely hurt some of the very voters in rural and economically distressed corners of the nation who catapulted Mr. Trump to the White House and Republicans to control of the House and Senate. The effect on those constituents would be quickly felt.
Presidential budgets, especially in times of divided government, are traditionally labeled dead on arrival. This one, with its deep domestic spending reductions, never even drew a breath, despite unified Republican control of Washington. But it will influence the coming congressional spending deliberations, and its most consequential effect may be to push authors of House and Senate budget and spending bills to the right.”
-Carl Hulse, “Republicans Will Reject Trump’s Budget, but Still Try to Impose Austerity,” The New York Times online, May 23, 2017