One of the biggest problems for many conservatives during the Trump administration — or any Republican administration for that matter — is the continued spending increases even as the party campaigns on lower deficits.
Trump appears to finally be looking to address the rate of government spending, saying on Wednesday that he intends to ask each of his Cabinet secretaries to cut 5% from their budgets next year. Trump made the claim ahead of a Cabinet meeting.
“Last year, the first year, I had to do something with the military. The military was falling apart, it was depleted, it was in very bad shape, and that’s why we went for two years, $700 billion, $716 billion,” Trump said. “I had to give the Democrats, I call it ‘waste money,’ things I would never have approved, but we had to do that in order to get the votes because we don’t have enough Republican votes to do that without them.”
As the Hill points out, Trump’s remarks about cutting the budget were somewhat vague.
“It was unclear if Trump’s intention was to cut spending for the 2019 fiscal year, which began earlier this month,” the Hill reported. “The president already signed spending bills covering about three-fourths of the total discretionary spending for 2019 into law.”
Trump also indicated the military would not see a budget increase.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/37260/finally-trump-intends-cut-government-spending-ashe-schow