WASHINGTON – Romina Boccia, director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation, responded to President Trump’s fiscal year 2021 budget proposal:

Washington’s consistent denial of the consequences of overspending by the federal government is one of the greatest threats to America’s future. President Trump’s FY2021 budget takes many important steps to curtail wasteful government spending, maintain successful pro-growth policy, sustain a strong national defense, and fund key constitutional priorities.

 

At a time when the government is running trillion dollar deficits while the economy is growing, the President offers Congress a path to balance the federal budget in 15 years. President Trump’s budget reduces debt as a percentage of the economy while continuing to keep taxes low, improves health care choices, continues to invest in the armed forces and national security, and takes important steps towards meaningfully reducing the growth in mandatory spending. These are critical first steps toward achieving sustainable fiscal policy.

 

Nevertheless, a number of policies in the budget represent missed opportunities. The administration must stay the course and not fall prey to using the budget as a vehicle for problematic policy initiatives, including misguided infrastructure funding from Washington and a federal encroachment in education policy.

 

It’s now up to Congress to move the budget process forward and offer a course correct for the status quo hurtling us toward fiscal collapse.