Here is another promise being kept by United States President Donald Trump, one that would certainly make a conservative or libertarian shake their head: keeping social welfare programs as they are.
Speaking in an interview with the Fox Business Network (via Reuters), U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that the president will not be making any cuts to a wide variety of social welfare programs, particularly Medicare and Social Security in his first federal budget.
Mnuchin told the news outlet that the 45th president will deliver a policy speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday to outline his first budget proposal. This will inevitably include simplifying the tax code, announcing tax cuts for the middle class, putting forward a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan and making U.S. companies competitive on the global market.
“We are not touching those now. So don’t expect to see that as part of this budget, OK,” Mnuchin said. “We are very focused on other aspects and that’s what’s very important to us. And that’s the president’s priority.”
Trump, unlike his primary opponents, pledged to keep Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as they are without any cuts. Despite these welfare programs on the brink of insolvency and in need of major reforms, the real estate billionaire mogul said an expanding economy would help maintain these entitlements (SEE: David Walker warns of Social Security, state pensions insolvency).
Perhaps the president didn’t get the memo that Social Security faces a $11.4 trillion shortfall and will tap into its reserves in 2019.
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