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Bill Straub: McConnell sees Trump budget as ‘progress,’ but it’s at the expense of the have-nots


WASHINGTON – Senate Republican Leader Mitch “Root ‘n Branch’’ McConnell has had almost nothing to say about the hullaballoo surrounding President Trump and his administration’s curious ties with the Kremlin but he is waxing enthusiastic about a $4.1 trillion budget for 2018 proposed by the White House that, as you probably already have guessed, gives to them that’s got and takes from them that ain’t.

The spending package decimates Medicaid, giving the lie to Trump’s often stated promise to protect the program that provides health services to the poor. It cuts deeply into the food stamp program, severely reduces funding for Social Security Disability and generally leaves no stone unturned in punishing society’s less fortunate.

All done for the sake of finagling a $2 trillion tax cut aimed at benefitting corporations and rich individuals through the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax and the Estate Tax, neither of which provide assistance to those down on their luck.

Some members of the Republican majority in both the House and Senate blanched when they saw the document, wondering how they could possibly rationalize it to the folks back home and maintain their cushy seat in the Capitol Building. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed support for some provisions but quickly added, “we must ensure that we take care of the less fortunate and protect federal programs.’’

“…the proposed cuts to some federal programs are not mere shavings; they are rather deep and harmful to my district spanning Kentucky’s Appalachian region and other rural, impoverished parts of the country,’’ Rogers said.

It’s been called dead on arrival – a description tied to most annual spending plans sent down Pennsylvania Avenue by a sitting president – and it likely will be mauled by the time lawmakers get hold of it this time. Don’t be surprised if, as usual under McConnell and several of his predecessors, the House and Senate fail to enact the 12 appropriations measures on time and fall back, yet again, to a succession of continuing resolutions before issuing an omnibus package everyone hates.

But McConnell, of Louisville, appeared unusually taken by The Donald’s effort.

“It builds on progress made earlier this month on defense, prioritizing more of the resources our service members need,’’ McConnell said in a floor speech delivered on the day the package was presented. “It builds on progress made earlier this month on border security, calling for investing in more of the infrastructure and technology our law enforcement officers need. And, unlike any of President (Barack) Obama’s budget blueprints, this one actually achieves balance.’’

McConnell asserted those provisions “are encouraging to see,’’ offering nothing about the proposed cuts that will adversely affect people’s lives. He also expressed glee over “the president’s commitment to slowing the growth of mandatory spending’’ – i.e. Medicaid and Social Security Disability – that he claimed is necessary for the GOP to march forward with its heartless agenda.

Much of what McConnell said in defense of the package is the usual malarkey – some of it originating with him and some of it with an incompetent president who hasn’t the foggiest notion about what he’s gotten himself – and the United States of America – into.

As former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers declared in a tweet: “Past a certain point, exaggeration & hype become dishonesty & deception. In economic policy, the Trump administration is way past that point,’’ subsequently characterizing the Trump budget as the “least honest & competent budget put out in the last 40 years.’’

Yes, Trump claims that the spending package will turn a surplus by 2027, a goal Obama, his predecessor, never sought because of the damage that would befall large segments of the population and the near impossibility of meeting the economic targets necessary to achieve that objective. Trump maintains he will reach the Promised Land because his policies will result in a 3 percent growth rate by 2021.

Ain’t gonna happen, and McConnell knows it.

The most recent forecast from the Congressional Budget Office projects the economy will experience a 1.8 percent annual growth rate through 2027. Trump is way overrating his magic touch, particularly since he has no real way to deal with the retirement of the baby boom generation and slow gains in productivity. Even the economists at the University of Chicago will acknowledge 3 percent growth is unlikely at best.

Meanwhile, the $1 trillion Trump vowed to spend upgrading the nation’s faltering infrastructure is actually $200 billion with unspecified plans to for incentivizing private development. In addition, the package slashes spending on existing infrastructure programs at the Department of Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers.

So much for infrastructure investment

There’s also the problem of a $2 trillion mistake in the formulation of the president’s budget, a miscue so gross that Summers said it would “justify failing an introductory economics course.’’ Basically the budget counts that sum twice – as a way to render the tax cut plan revenue neutral and again to justify the baseline. It can only be one of the other.

McConnell is not Darth Vader, as he proudly notes he frequently is referred to by Democratic staffers. No, he’s the Grinch who stole Christmas, convinced that by pilfering all the presents from the homes of the residents of Whoville they will angrily turn their backs on the Yuletide celebration. Instead the festivity prevails.

But that’s all economic mumbo jumbo. The real story is the life-altering tragedy millions of families could face with the enthusiastic shredding of the safety net. Jason Bailey, executive director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, wrote that the Trump budget “slashes nutrition, health care, and other important assistance that helps hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians meet basic living standards – food on the table, a roof over their heads, and access to health care – while giving new tax breaks to the wealthy and powerful.’’

The package, Bailey said, “stands in stark contrast to the commitments the president made during his campaign to help those left behind by today’s economy. It would also shift massive costs to Kentucky at a time when our state is already struggling to meet needs for education, health care, pensions and other building blocks of thriving communities.’’

This, to McConnell’s way of thinking, is “encouraging.’’ Add any of this to the disaster awaiting the Republican health care plan and Haiti will soon begin to look like the land of opportunity.

There’s another interesting facet revealed by McConnell’s comments on the Senate floor – he is absolutely obsessed with a fellow named Barack Hussein Obama.

The former president was twice mentioned by ol’ Root ‘n Branch in his presentation, asserting as previously noted, that Obama never presented a balanced budget during his eight years in office and maintaining that the GOP majority is adopting legislation “to provide relief from Obama-era regulations that stifle growth.’’

It is obvious, despite claims to the contrary, that McConnell, as a result of some slight or unknown altercation, loathes Obama to the max and will do everything in his power to destroy his reputation. It isn’t working. Recent poll data isn’t available, but Gallup found that Obama’s approval rating as he left office in January was 58 percent and there’s no reason to believe the public’s fondness for the former president has declined precipitously.

Meanwhile, an April survey by Public Policy Polling places McConnell’s approval at 24 percent, which is actually a jump from previous polls, although he remains incredibly unpopular.

In his book The Long Game, which he must have typed with his toes since he required both arms to pat himself on the back during the process, modesty not being the senator’s virtue, McConnell whined about Obama, saying “he’s like the kid in your class who exerts a hell of a lot of effort making sure everyone thinks he’s the smartest one in the room. He talks down to people, whether in a meeting among colleagues in the White House or addressing the nation.’’

Apparently the nation disagrees. And as president, it should be obvious to McConnell, Obama had no colleagues – the job is a one-man band.

Regardless, McConnell’s ongoing disregard for Obama is palpable as he goes about the task of undoing the accomplishments that ultimately rendered Obama popular.

In that, McConnell is not Darth Vader, as he proudly notes he frequently is referred to by Democratic staffers. No, he’s the Grinch who stole Christmas, convinced that by pilfering all the presents from the homes of the residents of Whoville they will angrily turn their backs on the Yuletide celebration. Instead the festivity prevails.

The only difference in the two stories is that the Grinch discovered the error of his ways and returned all the gifts while McConnell obsessively continues to swim against the tide of history.

Washington correspondent Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.


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