Scared now...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bloomberg say don't worry

A president's budget, as many have pointed out over the last few days, is only a proposal, with presidents not even getting an opportunity to veto or sign the eventual congressional budget resolution. If Congress wants to ignore what the president proposes, it is free to do so at this stage of the budget process -- although it needs the president's signature later on for spending bills and any changes in taxes or entitlement spending (such as Social Security and Medicare).

Meanwhile, I'm even more skeptical that we should think of this as Trump's budget. Instead, this appears to be basically a House Freedom Caucus budget, prepared by White House budget chief and former Freedom Caucuser Mick Mulvaney, since for whatever random reason Trump selected him as director of the Office of Management and Budget. It's unlikely Trump either knows or cares about how such a budget differs from a Paul Ryan budget, or a Senate Republican budget, or, for that matter, even a Democratic budget. But such a budget would normally get only some 40 or 50 votes in the House, and I suspect it's unlikely to do much better with Trump as the nominal sponsor.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Bloomberg say don't worry

Not sure how that analysis gets to "don't worry"; all it says is that Trump himself doesn't know or care what's in the budget. But the "Freedom Caucus" does, and they have a big seat at the table. The final budget will have to get votes from either Democrats or the "Freedom Caucus"; which one will they attempt to woo?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Not sure how that analysis gets to "don't worry"; all it says is that Trump himself doesn't know or care what's in the budget. But the "Freedom Caucus" does, and they have a big seat at the table. The final budget will have to get votes from either Democrats or the "Freedom Caucus"; which one will they attempt to woo?

They said what Trump proposed (the Freedom Caucus budget) couldn't get more than 50 votes in the House. Everything is on the table, and most Congress Critters are very aware what their constituents want. Hopefully when they hammer out the final budget that will come into play.