Congressional Republicans are saying they want to extend the Trump tax cuts at the cost of $5 trillion over 4 years or $1.25 trillion per year. How can they offset these tax cuts with spending cuts?
They also want to increase military expenditure.
Using the Fiscal Year 2024 as our baseline… how could they cut the budget by a trillion dollars?
Total budget: $6.8 trillion.
We will not reduce discretionary defense expenditures, so that is $850 billion off the table. $6 trillion remaining.
We must pay interest on debt from previous (mostly Republican) budgets. With another $880 billion off the table, we have $5.1 trillion remaining.
Social Security OASI is $1.5 trillion, funded through payroll taxes. It does not contribute to the debt. It cannot be cut quickly, so we have $3.6 trillion remaining.
Medicare and Medicaid would be idiotic to cut. It would not save anyone money, and would be cruel to millions of Americans. So that’s another $1.4 trillion off the chopping block. $2.2 trillion remaining.
Income Security programs include programs like disability and unemployment. I doubt the Federal government will cut this. They cost $370 billion, so we have $1.8 trillion remaining.
This $1.8 trillion is every other program the government spends money on. The government cannot cut mandatory spending. Leaving us with only $960 billion in discretionary spending that Congress can cut this year to cover the $1.25 trillion hole they are proposing to make in the budget.
It is impossible to cover the $1.25 trillion hole through nondefense discretionary spending alone.
Of that nondefense spending, it goes to a myriad of different programs. The largest amount goes to Veterans Benefits. The second highest goes to transportation. The third highest goes to every education program the government funds. These three programs add up to $380 billion. Every other non-military discretionary program the government does costs $580 billion. I highly doubt they will seriously cut these budgets.
Covering $1.25 trillion with $580 billion of cuts is a fascinating way of doing math.
The idea that the federal government is wasteful is a myth.