This week, Congress debated the merits of various policy riders that members would like to see jammed through the omnibus (which must be passed before the March 23 deadline), ranging from internet sales taxes to gun policies to immigration. The House version settled on including $1.57 billion for wall building and border security, fully funding a 2.4 percent pay raise for troops, the Fix NICS Act, and the Student, Teachers and Officers Preventing School Violence Act, among many other things. While not everything is set in stone and small government advocates are likely to be disappointed by the final product, President Trump’s “An American Budget,” released in February, has some wishlist items for 2019 that Congress would be wise to include in amendments to the omnibus bill. Instead of focusing on including every member’s erroneously expensive pet project, this wish list includes some cuts and reforms that would lead us away from trillion dollar deficits that are projected next year.
Separate from the actual budget, the Office of Management and Budget includes a detailed, 200-plus page document with major savings and reforms. In this document, the Trump administration has highlighted nearly $50 billion in discretionary savings in addition to more than $1.7 trillion direct spending cuts through 2028. With the recent budget deal threatening to add more than $1.5 trillion to the debt, and with $1 trillion deficits lurking around the corner, Congress should take these cuts into consideration and address the unsustainable path we are on.
