SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The $174 billion in extra Pentagon funds that Trump is asking for is more than double what Congress passed in 2018. (Photo: U.S. Air Force/Madelyn Brown)
Trump's $174 Billion Budget Lie
Trump tells us we can't afford PBS funding or preserve affordable housing, but his budget doesn't have any trouble finding billions of dollars for the endlessly expanding Pentagon budget
Mar 20, 2019
Over the past week, the Trump administration put out their proposal for the federal budget for fiscal year 2020, which starts in October of this year.
With this budget, Trump is trying to have his cake and eat it too: he wants to claim that he's adhering to strict spending limits favored by deficit hawks in his party, but there's just one problem.
His budget leaves a spare $174 billion in extra Pentagon lying around in plain sight, while claiming that it doesn't count toward spending limits.
This isn't a new trick. Congress has been passing extra money to the Pentagon in just this way for years.
But the Trump administration is taking it even further. The $174 billion in extra funds that Trump is asking for is more than double what Congress passed last year.
If Trump pretends that the Pentagon is also subject to strict spending limits, he can argue that his more than $50 billion in cuts to programs like the Environmental Protection Agency and Legal Aid are honest attempts to control federal spending.
This is a next-level budget lie. While team Trump tells us we can't afford to continue the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or preserve affordable housing, they don't seem to have any trouble finding billions of dollars to add the nation's nearly $6 trillion bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
So, next time you hear someone say we can't afford big investments in our country, you can counter with the story of Trump and his $174 billion lie.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Copyright © 2023 National Priorities Project / Institute for Policy Studies
Lindsay Koshgarian
Lindsay Koshgarian directs the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Over the past week, the Trump administration put out their proposal for the federal budget for fiscal year 2020, which starts in October of this year.
With this budget, Trump is trying to have his cake and eat it too: he wants to claim that he's adhering to strict spending limits favored by deficit hawks in his party, but there's just one problem.
His budget leaves a spare $174 billion in extra Pentagon lying around in plain sight, while claiming that it doesn't count toward spending limits.
This isn't a new trick. Congress has been passing extra money to the Pentagon in just this way for years.
But the Trump administration is taking it even further. The $174 billion in extra funds that Trump is asking for is more than double what Congress passed last year.
If Trump pretends that the Pentagon is also subject to strict spending limits, he can argue that his more than $50 billion in cuts to programs like the Environmental Protection Agency and Legal Aid are honest attempts to control federal spending.
This is a next-level budget lie. While team Trump tells us we can't afford to continue the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or preserve affordable housing, they don't seem to have any trouble finding billions of dollars to add the nation's nearly $6 trillion bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
So, next time you hear someone say we can't afford big investments in our country, you can counter with the story of Trump and his $174 billion lie.
Lindsay Koshgarian
Lindsay Koshgarian directs the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Over the past week, the Trump administration put out their proposal for the federal budget for fiscal year 2020, which starts in October of this year.
With this budget, Trump is trying to have his cake and eat it too: he wants to claim that he's adhering to strict spending limits favored by deficit hawks in his party, but there's just one problem.
His budget leaves a spare $174 billion in extra Pentagon lying around in plain sight, while claiming that it doesn't count toward spending limits.
This isn't a new trick. Congress has been passing extra money to the Pentagon in just this way for years.
But the Trump administration is taking it even further. The $174 billion in extra funds that Trump is asking for is more than double what Congress passed last year.
If Trump pretends that the Pentagon is also subject to strict spending limits, he can argue that his more than $50 billion in cuts to programs like the Environmental Protection Agency and Legal Aid are honest attempts to control federal spending.
This is a next-level budget lie. While team Trump tells us we can't afford to continue the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or preserve affordable housing, they don't seem to have any trouble finding billions of dollars to add the nation's nearly $6 trillion bill for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
So, next time you hear someone say we can't afford big investments in our country, you can counter with the story of Trump and his $174 billion lie.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.