In March of last year, the Heritage Foundation released their recommendation for a 2017 federal budget in a document titled, “Blueprint for Balance.”
According to numerous reports, President-Elect Trump plans to use the blueprint for his incoming administration and push Congress to pass the plans that include a $1.3 trillion tax break.
The Left is up in arms about the plan as it cuts programs preferential to minorities, women and the arts.
But the plan doesn’t just target the pet projects of Democrats, it cuts spending for non-combat research within the Department of Defense as well as subsidies to military commissaries.
The word “eliminate” occurs 230 times in the 180 page document.
As a reference, “reduce” occurs only 107 times.
The plan is an ambitious attempt to curb government spending and reduce its size and as such, is likely to face significant resistance in Congress.
A similar plan was proposed in 2015 and lost the House vote by a significant margin.
President Elect Trump will have to brow-beat pork-barrel politicians to give up their special projects and ear marks if he wants to abide by the spirit of the blueprint and make progress towards creating a smaller government.