President Trump formally releases his first federal budget proposal Tuesday, and it's already picked up criticism from the left and the right. Economists say the budget's estimate that the nation’s economic growth will double is too rosy. Democrats said the large cuts are draconian and unproductive. US House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, says he is going to stick with his own tax plan, thank you very much.
Even US Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate (and briefly one of Trump's prospects to be FBI director), said Trump's budget was “basically dead on arrival.’’
But Trump is tactically acknowledging what others in Washington, D.C. won’t admit: the federal budget process was long broken before he showed up on the scene.
Historically, budgets — from the federal government down to the town council — were viewed as governing documents. This where a governing body made hard decisions about funding — the fight in which real power was wielded. It is one thing for candidates to say they were going to lower taxes and increase spending on a specific project, but quite another when the math dictated they cannot do both.
But these days, the president’s budget isn’t about governing. It is about politics. Given that Congress rarely passes a budget anyway, there is little incentive for a president to do anything but use it as a political statement.
In fact, only twice since 2007 have leaders in Congress passed a budget in the House and Senate. The last time this happened was 2015, when Barack Obama vetoed a key large portion of that budget anyway.
Since it’s rare for a budget to pass, and continuing resolutions keep the status quo in the meantime, Trump could have taken his budget in any direction.
Trump’s aides have said they had taxpayers in mind when they crafted it. Trump’s donors and part of his base may like to hear that. At the same time, unless Congress does act on his budget, it’s unlikely that those working-class voters who supported Trump will be affected at all. It will just be more of the status quo.
It doesn’t have to be like this, of course. Trump has a Republican-controlled House and Senate, and his administration's approach comes at the cost of other, more realistic items on the GOP's agenda. Then again, this proposed budget could be an opening negotiating tactic from Trump, although he is negotiating with his own party.
The next move is up to Congress. And as US Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, put it in a statement, “The president's budget request is always subject to significant revision by Congress, and this budget will be no exception.’’
James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his Ground Game newsletter on politics: http://pages.email.bostonglobe.com/GroundGameSignUp
