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Category: Budget

Administration Budget Proposal to Call for Increase in Defense, Cuts to Domestic Programs

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The Trump White House will send today to the federal agencies its draft FY2018 budget proposal that will seek increases for defense and veterans’ programs while looking to cut domestic programs. The proposal being shared with the agencies today will only address the discretionary programs — those that must be funded through the annual appropriations process—and will not touch the mandatory programs, like Social Security and Medicare. Those issues will be handled in the larger budget request that will be released later in March.

The call for increases in defense and veterans’ programs, as well as funding for a new border wall, without raising the overall level of discretionary spending would force sizable cuts to non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs. Under the current law, the overall FY2018 discretionary spending level is set at $1.064 trillion, with $549 billion for defense and $515.4 billion for NDD programs. Democrats have insisted on “parity” with respect to budget increases, arguing that increases to defense must be tied to increases in NDD programs, and are likely to raise serious objections to this budget outline. As noted above, a budget framework containing proposals on mandatory programs will be released in March.

Federal Relations will provide further details as they become available.

Trump Aims to Release FY18 Budget Outline in Mid-March

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The Trump Administration is aiming to release its FY 2018 budget outline on March 14, an unnamed White House official told CQ over the weekend. The budget outline is not expected to be a comprehensive budget, but instead a “skinny” skeleton of what the Administration intends the full budget to look like. Some are expressing doubt that the Administration could make this soft deadline, given the new director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, was confirmed and sworn in just last week.

More Cabinet Posts, FY 2018 Budget Update

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It will continue to be a busy week for the House and Senate. Today, the Senate will continue to work on confirmations as four Cabinet positions – Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education, Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Rep. Tom Price for Secretary of HHS, and Steven Mnuchin for Secretary of Treasury  – are up for full Senate consideration this week. Rep. Mike Mulvany (R-SC), Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is still working his way through the Senate, which could cause some budget complications for FY 2018 (see below). 

Senators are expected to move on a House-passed Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying a regulation curbing methane emissions from oil and gas wells on federal lands. Once passed, it will mark the third energy-related rule nullified by the Republican Congress. 

Today, the House continues efforts to stop regulations finalized by former President Barack Obama now focusing on the Department of Education. So far, lawmakers have introduced Congressional Review Act resolutions targeting the Obama Administration’s regulations governing teacher preparation programs as well as its accountability rule under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

It is the first Monday in February, which is technically Presidential Budget day. On the first Monday in February, the Administration is statutorily required to submit their budget request for the upcoming fiscal year (in this case FY 2018) to Congress. All recent Presidents (including Obama…multiple times) have missed the statutory deadline for budget submissions in their first year in office. There is no penalty for missing the date and a full budget proposal may not emerge from the White House until April or May.

While a delay in the budget submission is expected for a new Administration, virtually guarantees a delay in the entire FY 2018 appropriations process. Regardless of who controls Congress, lawmakers typically fail to get regular spending bills passed before the start of the new fiscal year, which begins on October 1. This year enjoys the particular complication of not having closed out FY 2017 with the current CR running until April 28th. Congress will have to address FY 2017 and immediately (or concurrently) FY 2018.