Trump's second term hit by looming budget showdown
The battle over the budget comes to a head this week as the continuing resolution passed late last year expires Friday. If Congress fails to act before the deadline, the federal government will shut down. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a continuing resolution which will keep government operating through September. It contains cuts in domestic spending and increases in defense outlays.
The House leadership turned to a continuing resolution after it failed to get enough Republican support for a package which would have made deeps cuts in Medicaid spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his party are between a rock and a hard place. If the government shuts down, it will freeze Trump’s imperial presidency in place.
If the Republican House passes the package with the big billionaire tax cuts and severe Medicaid spending reductions, it will put vulnerable Republicans facing tough reelection campaigns next year on thin ice.
President Trump’s bloated address to Congress and the nation last week was a prelude to the battle over the budget which is really about the nation’s economic future. His speech was a great piece of performance art laced with a litany of lies about the state of the economy and the shape of the federal budget.
The president simply parroted mistakes about spending generated by the Lord High Executioner of vital government programs, Elon Musk. Musk and his minions have made more corrections on the Department of Government Efficiency budget website than I made on my first geometry test in high school. Last week, Musk’s SpaceX Starship lost control, spun wildly and blew up just as it reached space. The disaster is the perfect metaphor for the mogul’s role in Trump 2.0.
The president stated that “America is back.” But since Trump reclaimed the White House in January the economy has gotten worse. Inflation has surged, and Wall Street is crashing. His tariff increases will intensify the financial struggles of beleaguered consumers. Sixty-day car loan delinquencies are at an all-time high.
Friday, Fox Business News host Charles Payne pointed to a shocking drop in consumer spending and went on to say, “I think the boom times are over.” I presume he was referring to the Biden boom even though the conservative host didn’t want to admit it.
The president did acknowledge that there might be “a little disturbance.” His “little disturbance” is more like the major disruption in the force that Darth Vader created in “Star Wars.” Trump and his congressional courtiers are well on the way to making the same mistake Joe Biden did, which is to ignore the financial suffering of hard-working middle- and low-income Americans.
A national Reuters-Ipsos survey taken last week shows most Americans worried about the economy and the cost of living six weeks into Trump’s second term. A large majority believe the cost of living and the economy are headed in the wrong direction. This pessimism will come back to haunt Trump, but congressional Republicans will take the first hit next year during the midterm elections.
The Reuters poll clearly demonstrates Americans oppose many parts of the DOGE program of draconian budget cuts. Two out of three Americans oppose the elimination of the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Although they don’t give a hoot about international policy problems, most of the public opposes the termination of the vital USAID program of assistance to poor and developing nations.
Despite the popularity of the programs that the president and DOGE want to terminate, most Americans believe that the federal government wastes a lot of money. Trump plays on this general feeling and Democrats must address those concerns.
Democrats face a dilemma in framing a response to the Trump and Musk draconian cuts in important federal programs. Six in ten Americans want to downsize the federal establishment in principle, even if they dislike the dirty details. My party needs to address the public’s concerns without giving ground on the programs that protect ordinary Americans and fuel our economy.
Strong opposition to Trump’s tax cuts for bankers and billionaires paid for by hard pressed Medicaid recipients is a great place to start but not the end of the struggle.
During the budget fight, Democrats must do more than preserve and protect existing programs like Medicaid. They must find ways to innovate and elevate the quality of services that the federal government provides its citizens.
Democrats must call for crack down on the bloated excesses of Pentagon military contractors who waste billions of dollars on useless weapons systems and the corporate cartels that get massive government subsides while they exploit struggling consumers. American expect nothing less from the party out of power.
Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.
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