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Trump Tells Congress to Pull Back $15 Billion Primarily From Children’s Health Insurance Program
In March 2018, Trump signed the Omnibus Spending Bill, explained succinctly by Smart Dissent HERE. He admittedly had no idea what was in it. It included funding for a lot of crucial programs, many of which Republicans would like to savagely cut or end.
Now Trump's people have put their (empty) heads together and asked Congress to pull back some of the funding within that $1.3 trillion spending bill.
Trump is sending a plan to Congress that calls for stripping more than $15 billion in previously approved spending, with the hope that it will temper conservative angst over ballooning budget deficits.
HE AND HIS REPUBLICAN BUDDIES WANT THESE CUTS TO COME FROM CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM AND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
Almost half of the proposed cuts would come from two accounts within the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)..... An additional $800 million in cuts would come from.... the Affordable Care Act.....
What is this process the administration is trying to use to cut the spending that's already approved?
Congress can “rescind” money it has previously authorized if it secures a majority of votes in the House and then the Senate using powers under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
The law has not been used in that way in roughly 20 years. The senior administration official said this is the biggest rescission request that has ever been sent to Congress.
Those are just a handful of the more than 30 programs the White House is proposing to Congress for “rescission,” a process of culling back money that was previously authorized. Once the White House sends the request to Congress, lawmakers have 45 days to vote on the plan or a scaled-back version of it through a simple majority vote.
Great, just great.
White House officials and GOP leaders said the package of proposed cuts could begin to signal to conservatives that they are now taking steps to reverse a free-spending fiscal approach they have embraced since Trump took office.
....conservatives were given assurances from the White House that this package would be the first of several, and he said lawmakers were anxious to get started on the cuts.
Democrats have said they are watching the process with skepticism. Many Democrats have called for expanding programs such as CHIP, not cutting them, and they are often fiercely protective of anything related to the Affordable Care Act.
....the CHIP cuts.... have already appeared to serve as a rallying cry for Democrats to mobilize opposition.
“Let’s be honest about what this is: Trump and Republicans in Congress are looking to tear apart the bipartisan CHIP, hurting middle-class families and low-income children, to appease the most conservative special interests and feel better about blowing up the deficit to give the wealthiest few and biggest corporations huge tax breaks,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
The package ran into trouble in the Senate before being officially released. Republicans have a very thin majority in the Senate and would probably need near-unanimous support from their caucus to pass the bill.
Even Mitch freaking McConnell, for now, says this is not good. No doubt he'll flip-flip but still shocking from him.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others argued that that would amount to going back on a bipartisan deal.