BORDER/BUDGET/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump released Monday [2-12-18] a $4.4 trillion budget proposal that would boost spending for the military and border security, cut many domestic programs and projects deficits through the next decade.
The blueprint underscores what has become clear in recent months: that the budget austerity Republicans pursued in 2011 has ended. GOP lawmakers and Mr. Trump are now pursuing fiscal policies that tolerate wider deficits in a bid to ramp up economic growth… The GOP president’s proposed budget, an annual document that outlines the priorities of the administration, doesn’t balance over a decade in large part because, even with slightly stronger economic growth, it projects the government will collect less federal revenue than it forecast last year. That is because of the $1.5 trillion tax cut enacted in December.
One result is the document projects a budget deficit next year that is nearly double what his proposal estimated last year.
Those figures don’t take into account a two-year budget agreement Congress struck last week that would increase federal spending by $300 billion. Independent analysts said the deal could boost federal deficits above $1 trillion next year…
Mr. Trump’s latest budget assumes the economy can grow at a much stronger pace than independent forecasters expect. It projects the economy will grow about 3% annually over the coming decade, with output rising 3.2% next year before declining to 3% in 2021 and 2.8% by 2026. Federal Reserve officials, by contrast, estimate the economy will grow about 2.5% this year, 2.1% in 2019 and 1.8% over the long run.”
-Kate Davidson, “Trump’s Budget Proposal Projects Big Jump in Deficits,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 12, 2018 06:40pm