WASHINGTON: The Republican-led US Congress adopted a budget Thursday that unlocks trillions of dollars for President Donald Trump’s agenda, jump-starting what Democrats say is a plan to dismantle social welfare in favor of tax cuts for the rich.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the blueprint freed up Republicans to deliver on promises Trump made in his election campaign for “historic” spending reductions and an extension of his expiring 2017 tax relief.
“We will not waver in our commitment to delivering a bill that reduces spending, secures the border, keeps taxes low for families… and makes government work better for all Americans,” he said.
The successful vote will be a relief to Trump, who was facing a rebellion from Republican fiscal hawks that exposed the limits of his iron grip and raised doubts over his party’s ability to coalesce around his agenda.
He took to social media to congratulate lawmakers for laying the groundwork for what he said would be the “Largest Tax and Regulation Cuts ever even contemplated.” Adjusted for inflation, Trump’s 2017 tax relief bill was the fourth largest since 1940, according to PolitiFact, and seventh as a percentage of GDP.
Democrats see the budget resolution as the opening salvo in Republican plans — spelled out in the conservative Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” manifesto — to drastically rein in the federal bureaucracy.
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