President Trump unveiled a $4.8 trillion budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year, thought to be a taste of his re-election strategy, notable for steep reductions in social services like Medicaid, disability insurance, and higher budgets for defense, including the president’s promised southern border wall. The plan seeks to reduce deficits by $4.6 trillion in the next 10 years.
The plan, which needs Congressional approval, proposes increasing military spending slightly and lowering non-defense spending by nearly 5 percent, which seems to buck the agreement made by Congressional leaders and the White House this summer that passed both chambers with bipartisan support.
Trump’s budget proposal cuts spending on federal disability benefits, student loan forgiveness, foreign aid spending, and eliminates funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It will also further extend the income tax cuts that are currently set to expire in 2025. Other departments receiving a big cut: the Environmental Protection Agency, whose budget would be slashed by 26 percent, and a 9 percent reduction for the Health and Human Services department, which includes the National Institutes for Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection. CDC cuts would not be expected to include funding for infectious disease activities
Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement that “presidents’ budgets are a reflection of Administration priorities, but in the end, they are just a list of suggestions, as the power of the purse rests with Congress. Bipartisan consensus will be necessary to bring our debt and deficits under control.”
The plan would also cut more than $5.5 billion in spending for the Education Department, which is slightly less than what was proposed last year. Those domestic spending slashes will likely be rejected by lawmakers and stand in contrast to messaging from the eventual 2020 Democratic nominee.
Trump also promised to send astronauts to the moon by 2024, a promise he presumably hopes to fill with a 12 percent budget increase in NASA funding.
Congressman John Yarmuth (D-Ky. 3rd District) who chairs the House Committee on the Budget said in a statement that the plan, by a “destructive and irrational president,” is backpedaling on a bipartisan deal. “He has broken his promises to the American people. Defaulted on the bipartisan budget deal he made with Congress. And we will stand firm against this warped ‘vision’ for our nation’s future,” Yarmuth said.
Though the president’s budget plan sheds light on his policy ambitions, a Democrat-controlled House means a spending bill in the Senate would require bipartisan support, which looks unlikely.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted, “With his latest budget proposal, it’s hard to imagine that President Trump could do any more to double-cross the very American workers and middle-class families he promised to help just last week in his State of the Union address.” He noted that by proposing “severe cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, President Trump’s latest budget is simply a continuation of his war to rip away health care from millions of Americans.”
The budget plan carries weight for the president’s platform heading into an election year, although it’s a shift from his 2016 campaign when he promised to protect funding for Medicare and Medicaid. The president even stated via a tweet as recently as the Saturday that he would not be "touching" Medicare before the release of the proposed budget that does just that.
Andrew Cuomo is reportedly planning his comeback. According to the Wall Street Journal, the former New York governor and his aides are considering how to make his first public appearance since he abruptly resigned last August amid sexual harassment allegations. Jake Lahut, politics reporter for Insider, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Cuomo's potential return to politics.
The pressure is on for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson - after his closest aides handed in their resignations this week.
It comes after a report found that 16 parties had taken place at Downing Street while Covid lockdown protocols were in place in the region. Ari Aramesh, Attorney & National Security/Foreign Policy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
After tennis player Peng Shuai made an explicit sexual assault allegation toward a former Chinese government official, she disappeared from the public eye. Her recent reappearance with the IOC alongside a Chinese Olympic committee official raised eyebrows and renewed concerns for her safety. Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Peng Shuai's retraction and the various human rights controversies swirling at the Beijing games. "It's clear that the IOC was working with Beijing to make sure that she did not express herself freely," Chang said. "So really this is the IOC being complicit in these mechanisms of control over Peng."
The opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympics has kicked off at the Beijing national stadium. 150,000 spectators are in attendance for the games inside the 'closed loop' system separating Olympic personnel from the public. Cheddar News spoke with Brian Cazenueve, Sports Illustrated contributor, to share the highlights you may have missed and much more.
The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Although this week's weather is predicted to be less severe than the 2021 storm, Texans are preparing for the worst - stocking up on supplies and emptying shelves in grocery stores, once again. Some Texans still have not recovered from last year's tragedy, and are heading into the next few weeks with anxiety for what's to come. Leslie Beyer, CEO of the Houston-based energy workforce & technology council, joins Cheddar News to discuss if the Texas grid will fail again.
Student loan debt continues to be a major concern for tens of millions of Americans who collectively owe about $1.7 trillion. Black college students often take on larger amounts of student debt in order to pay for a higher education. In turn, they are more likely to struggle post-graduation with repaying their debt, creating a racial wealth gap divide. Andre Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Institution joined All Hands to help break down the black student debt crisis.
After two NYPD officers were killed with an illegal gun, President Biden made a trip to New York City to speak on the issue of gun violence fed by the "iron pipeline" of illegal firearms that make their way from the South to the Big Apple. Kris Brown, the president of the gun violence prevention organization Brady United, joined Cheddar to discuss what this visit from the president could mean for the future of gun laws in America. "He's asked Congress to pass things like expanding the Brady background check system, but with the filibuster a barrier to so much action right now in the Congress, he's looking at solutions that involve funding at the federal level and really involve enforcement."
