House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday stopped short of praising President Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget outline beyond endorsing general cuts in spending.
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Ryan, R-Wis., who speaks daily to Trump, said the administration’s proposal to make deep cuts in domestic spending while bolstering money for defense marks only the very beginning of the budget process. Ryan declined to say whether he backs Trump’s plan to make deep cuts to the State Department.
“I haven’t looked closely at what they are proposing,” Ryan, the former chairman of the House Budget Committee, said when asked about Trump’s plan to slash non-defense State Department funding. “When a president submits a budget, this is the beginning of the budget process.”
Ryan said Trump’s proposal would be considered by the House Budget and Appropriations Committees.
“Then we will have a full hearing about how the priorities will be met,” he said.
Both Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have stopped short of endorsing the president’s budget.
Administrative spending proposals don’t typically become law but rather represent the president’s priorities.
The GOP is likely to develop its own spending blueprint in the House and Senate and will then use it to incorporate comprehensive tax reform later this year.
Ryan, however, signaled support for the cost cutting in the Trump budget.
“Do I think we can cut spending and get waste out of government? Absolutely,” Ryan said. “Where and how and what the numbers are, that’s something we’ll be figuring out as time goes on. This is just the very beginning of that process.”
