President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office did not emphasize fiscal responsibility, as the U.S. ran up close to $8 trillion in new debt. For his return, Trump is laying the groundwork for something much different.
Trump has already announced his Department of Government Efficiency — an advisory panel led by billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — which will be tasked with finding significant government cuts.
“It’s time to cut the waste and balance the budget,” declared U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, who will lead a House panel to work in concert with Trump’s push.
But it didn’t take long for that to run into some turbulence.
One of the first ideas floated by Musk and Ramaswamy was to cut veterans’ health care. That could be an uncomfortable confirmation hearing topic for former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, who has been tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
And that’s really the GOP problem — $2 trillion in spending cuts sounds great until it hits your program.
For example, in the past two years, House Republicans balked at just a small fraction of that, defeating GOP budget cuts at the Department of Agriculture.
“I hope there is a genuine change of heart on what it will take to save us from fiscal ruin,” said U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
This is where Trump may try a constitutional power grab by going around the legislative branch and making cuts on his own.
Standing in his way is a federal law that doesn’t allow a president to ignore Congress on spending, known as the Impoundment Control Act.
In a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy said Trump thinks that 1974 budget law is unconstitutional. “We believe the current Supreme Court would likely side with him,” they wrote.
The argument is that Trump — as the head of the executive branch — should have the final say about what gets spent and what doesn’t, no matter what Congress funds.
For example, Trump could move to fire thousands of bureaucrats and shut down various federal departments — even though Congress has expressly approved money for those same workers and agencies.
Democrats are sounding the alarm.
“The legal theories being pushed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are as idiotic as they are dangerous,” said U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa.
Whatever happens, something needs to change. The last federal budget surplus was a quarter century ago under Bill Clinton. The nation’s debt is over $36 trillion — and growing.
Trump never delivered anything close to a balanced budget during his first term. Now he gets a second chance to rein in federal spending.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com.
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