The response to the President’s budget among Idaho’s political delegation in Washington, D.C. is tepid. The Trump Administration proposes cutting spending by $3.6 trillion over the next decade.
In a statement, GOP Senator Jim Risch reminded people that Congress, not the President, actually appropriates funds. Risch characterized the proposed budget as a blueprint of the Trump Administration’s priorities.
According to the Spokesman Review, some of the things that face cuts in the budget plan are the Idaho National Lab, the Secure Rural Schools Program and wildfire prevention and management efforts. Risch says he’ll continue to advocate for Idaho's priorities.
Idaho's other Republican senator, Mike Crapo, said despite a broad consensus the budget needs to be balanced, Trump's plan calls for dramatic cuts to programs affecting the Gem State. Crapo is a member of the Senate Budget Committee and says he'll work to strike a balance between minimizing deficit spending and maintaining necessary programs.
In the House, Mike Simpson sits on the Appropriations Committee. The Republican Congressman says he and his colleagues will hold hearings to inform their line-by-line funding decisions. Simpson says Trump’s proposal doesn't get at the real drivers of the debt, which he cites as “mandatory programs on autopilot.”
Raul Labrador, who's running for governor next year, didn't weigh in on Trump’s budget.
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