More About Trump Attacking The ‘Administrative State’

While an admirable goal, reducing the size and power of the nation’s bureaucracy is going to be a tough nut to crack. President Trump will meet resistance from people at all levels in the agencies he is trying to reduce or eliminate. By announcing ahead of time what his goals are he has put them on warning. They will be ready. The Administrative State can and will frustrate efforts to eliminate any part of them.

“Trump Seeks Sharp Increases In Military Spending, “Drastic Cuts” To State Department, EPA”

As part of his proposed budget, President Trump will instruct federal agencies on Monday to assemble a spending plan for the coming fiscal year that includes sharp increases in Defense Department spending and “drastic cuts” to domestic agencies such as the State Department, the EPA and other non-defense programs, so that he can keep his promise to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, according to four senior administration officials cited by the NYT. The budget outline will be the first move in a campaign this week to reset the narrative of Mr. Trump’s turmoil-tossed White House.

Coming one day before delivering his high-stakes “State of the Union” address on Tuesday to a joint session of Congress, Trump will demand a budget with tens of billions of dollars in reductions to the Environmental Protection Agency and State Department, administration officials reported. The NYT adds that social safety net programs, aside from the big entitlement programs for retirees, would also be hit hard. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking on Fox News earlier on Sunday, said Trump’s budget would not seek cuts in federal social programs such as Social Security and Medicare.”

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