Trump, Republicans moving ahead with budget double-cross, rolling back spending he just signed

Joan McCarter 
Daily Kos Staff
Monday April 09, 2018 · 2:21 PM EDT

Popular vote loser Donald Trump seems to be serious about the plan his staff has been working on with a few House Republicans to undo some of the $1.3 trillion spending bill they passed just last month. Trump's rage at having to spend money on things Democrats wanted was glaringly apparent in the incoherent, discombobulated speech he made when signing the bill, having been talked out of "doing the veto" as he wanted. Now he's got his team putting together a package of rescissions—spending that he doesn't approve of and wants Congress to cancel.

Lawrence Kudlow, the White House’s new National Economic Council director, said Sunday that he was involved in planning what he called an "enhanced rescission package to peel back some of the spending approved in the bill signed into law last month.
Mr. Kudlow said he was working on the plan with the White House budget director, Mick Mulvaney.

Taking aim at congressional Republicans, Mr. Kudlow said on Fox that "the Republican Party on the Hill has finally figured out it’s really not a bad idea to trim some spending because, after all, spending can lead to deficits and spending interferes with the economy."

Trump could, on his own, freeze spending on any particular thing for up to 45 days (that's 45 working days for Congress, which would actually stretch out for months), but in order to have it done permanently it has to be voted on by Congress. Those votes would be subject to a simple majority, so in theory it could happen. In theory, Republicans running for re-election this year would be willing to vote against the spending bill after they voted for it and take money away from important programs in their districts. It's likelier to happen in the House and would face a tough climb getting even 50 Senate votes.

But the time and energy the administration is clearly intent on putting in to this raises the specter that Trump, still enraged over not getting his wall and having to spend money on stuff that isn't his wall, would do it on his own, as David Dayen posits.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/9/1755673/-Trump-Republicans-moving-ahead-with-budget-double-cross-rolling-back-spending-he-just-signed