{"id":58754,"date":"2018-02-14T04:24:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T04:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=58754"},"modified":"2018-02-14T04:24:10","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T04:24:10","slug":"mulvaney-remarks-on-trump-budget-plan-spark-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/mulvaney-remarks-on-trump-budget-plan-spark-confusion.html","title":{"rendered":"Mulvaney remarks on Trump budget plan spark confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mulvaney remarks on Trump budget plan spark confusion<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that Mick Mulvaney would vote for President Trump\u2019s budget proposal if he were still in Congress after the OMB director suggested he would not during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mulvaney, who was on Capitol Hill to defend the proposal, said he \u201cprobably would have found enough shortcomings\u201d in the document to vote against it if he were still a congressman. But the OMB said Mulvaney was referring to a spending cap deal reached last week, not the actual Trump budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the most memorable moment of Mulvaney\u2019s hearing, a Capitol Hill ritual the day after the presidential budget request\u2019s release.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the Senate Budget Committee\u2019s hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked Mulvaney if he would have voted for \u201cthis budget that you\u2019re presenting.\u201d She noted that Mulvaney said over the weekend that he wouldn\u2019t have voted for the deal Trump signed last week to increase spending caps by about $300 billion over two years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can give the same answer I gave on Sunday, which is that as a member of Congress representing the 5th District of South Carolina, I probably would have found enough shortcomings in this to vote against it, as did many members of this committee,\u201d Mulvaney replied. \u201cBut I\u2019m the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and my job is to try and fund the president\u2019s priorities, which is exactly what we did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The comments attracted attention, since it would be highly unusual for an OMB director to criticize the budget he spearheaded.<\/span><\/p>\n

But an OMB spokeswoman claimed that Mulvaney wasn\u2019t talking about Trump\u2019s budget when he replied to Murray.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust to be clear, Director Mulvaney was referring to the recent caps deal when answering Senator Murray\u2019s question this morning. Naturally, he would vote for the President\u2019s [fiscal 2019] budget that he released yesterday,\u201d OMB spokeswoman Meghan Burris said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mulvaney, a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was known in Congress as a fiscal hawk who voted against spending deals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of how Mulvaney would have voted on Trump\u2019s budget, it\u2019s clear that, as OMB director, he has supported measures that he would have found unappealing as a lawmaker. In September, Mulvaney came to Capitol Hill to sell GOP lawmakers on a deal to raise the debt limit that he likely would have opposed if still in Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mulvaney appears to have a good relationship with Trump \u2014 in addition to running the OMB, the president named him acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November. Mulvaney\u2019s name has also been floated as a potential future White House chief of staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

The president\u2019s budget still reflects some of Mulvaney\u2019s priorities and includes proposals to cut deficits by more than $3 trillion over 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s budget, which Mulvaney took a lead role in developing, doesn\u2019t balance \u2014 a departure from previous Republican budget proposals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised to hear Director Mulvaney being so honest with me about the fact that he was asking us to support a budget he\u2019d never vote for as a Congressman\u2014and then I was disappointed that the White House refused to let this honesty stand and Director Mulvaney was forced to backtrack on his very clear statement to me,” Murray said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans were comfortable with Mulvaney\u2019s remarks and praised his honesty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he gave a pretty good explanation for the question, which was one of those tough questions,\u201d Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) told reporters after the hearing. \u201cYou\u2019re hired by this president to do a budget for this president with this president\u2019s priorities. And he did, but it wouldn\u2019t necessarily be his priorities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Budget Committee member, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), said he thinks Mulvaney \u201cwas being honest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s no longer a congressman. He\u2019s an OMB director,\u201d he said. \u201cHe has a client. It\u2019s called the American people and the president of the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Enzi added that in the past, when presidents\u2019 budgets are put to a vote in Congress, they are unanimously or near-unanimously voted down. Mulvaney as a House member had put then-President Obama\u2019s budgets up for votes in an effort to put Democrats on the record about Obama\u2019s plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even like the idea of putting them up for a vote, because this is just a list of a president\u2019s pretty good suggestions,\u201d Enzi said.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the hearing, Mulvaney defended the fact that Trump\u2019s budget doesn\u2019t balance within 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he told lawmakers last year that he was concerned the administration wouldn\u2019t be able to offer balanced budgets going forward if changes weren\u2019t made to the spending trajectory. He also said that the numbers in this year\u2019s budget are \u201ceven more solid\u201d than the numbers in last year\u2019s document.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather bring you numbers that are true and honest, that set forth a better picture of our fiscal condition, than lie to you and tell you the budget would balance in 10 years,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mulvaney also promoted other aspects of the budget and the administration\u2019s agenda, including the tax-cut law Trump signed in December, the administration\u2019s request for $18 billion in funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and the budget\u2019s support for legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans spoke favorably of Mulvaney and the budget throughout the hearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to applaud you for creating a more real budget,\u201d said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has been vocal about deficits and voted against the spending caps deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Democrats and outside groups have still been critical of the economic assumptions used in the budget, such as its projection that gross domestic product would grow by an average of 3 percent annually.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democratic senators blasted the budget during the hearing, arguing that the White House values tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations over help for the middle class. They said that the budget breaks Trump\u2019s campaign promise to not touch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we see in this budget is about help to the powerful and an assault on working Americans,\u201d said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).<\/span><\/p>\n

Mulvaney said administration officials \u201cabsolutely keep our promises\u201d and didn\u2019t propose making changes to Social Security retirement benefits or services for Medicare recipients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/finance\/373736-mulvaney-remarks-on-trump-budget-plan-spark-confusion<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t