The White House budget office is continuing with the Trump administration’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year despite several media outlets reporting that Joe Biden is the presumptive president-elect.
When asked about moving forward with President Trump’s budget, a spokesperson from the Office of Management and Budget told the Washington Examiner: “We are in the middle of budget season.”
The process began two months ago, according to OMB.
Several administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, discussed the push to enact President Trump’s budget, despite Biden being set to submit his plan to Congress in early 2021, according to the Washington Post.
“They’re pretending nothing happened,” one government official involved in the federal budget process said. “We’re all supposed to pretend this is normal and do all this work while we know we’re just going to have to throw it away.”
The White House budget proposal is typically issued in February after Trump is set to depart his office. Biden is expected to be sworn in on Jan. 20.
Trump has yet to concede to Biden, saying that the election was riddled with voter fraud, though little evidence has yet been shown of such activity. The Trump campaign has embarked on several legal battles in multiple states and demanded a recount in Wisconsin.
“WE WILL WIN!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
The White House also instructed senior government officials to not cooperate with Biden’s transition team, and when asked if the fiscal year 2022 budget process was proceeding as planned, a spokesman told the Washington Post, “Of course.”
In addition, the report suggested that Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is viewed by administration officials as being hostile to a Biden transition. He came from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and has the reputation of being a Trump loyalist.
Chantel Boyens, who worked on budget issues under the Bush and Obama administrations, said it’s not unusual for outgoing administrations to work on aspects of the budget after an election loss, but the work typically changes dramatically as the transition occurs.
“The preparations going on now are not surprising given the administration’s position on the outcome of the election,” Boyens said. “At the point at which you know the outcome of the election, it would not make sense to continue formulating policy recommendations for a new budget to be put out by the outgoing administration.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House.
