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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Dems Pummel Trump in First Budget Battle

Amazingly, Democrats more than held their own in the just-passed budget compromise that funds federal operations through the end of September. The self-proclaimed "world's greatest negotiator" got absolutely taken to the cleaners in his first budget test. Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi released glowing statements on the deal while their Republican counterparts Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were tellingly mum. As Bloomberg stated, "Overall, the compromise resembles more of an Obama Administration-era budget than a Trump one." The Washington Post details the specifics in an article titled, "Eight Ways Trump Got Rolled in His First Budget Negotiation." See the full WaPo story here. The telling factor was that Trump couldn't marshall unanimity from the Republican side and the GOP didn't want to have a government shutdown happen when they were in complete control of both Congress and the Presidency.

For example, Trump's promise to slash EPA by one-third amidst massive layoffs turned into merely a 1% cut with no personnel reductions. Obama's cancer "moon shot" got a $2 billion increase instead of the elimination Trump wanted. Trump didn't get his border wall. In fact, the legislation includes specific language preventing Homeland Security from spending any money on it. Planned Parenthood funding remains unscathed. Rather than $18 billion in domestic cuts, there is actually a net increase, even apart from the defense increase. On defense, even though Republicans have the White House and both Houses of Congress, Trump's call for a $30 billion military spending boost was reduced to $12.5 billion, with another $2.5 billion to come when and if the Administration produces a specific plan to defeat ISIS. Obamacare subsidies will continue to be paid. There is no crackdown on "sanctuary cities."

Trump has said he will sign the bill. Speaking of the legislative process in his own inimitable style, Trump said this on CBS's "Face the Nation:" "In many cases you're forced to make deals that are not the deal you'd make. You'd make a much different kind of deal. You're forced into situations that you hate to be forced into."

A tweet characterizing the bill might go something like this: "Trump world's greatest negotiator NOT. Instead VERY WEAK. Sad!!!!"

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