Donald Trump’s transition team has been discussing plans to make dramatic budget cuts to government entities conservatives have long tried to hamstring, according to The Hill.
The Hill reports that the proposed budget would completely eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and would privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
The Trump team is also looking to make major budget cuts at the Transportation, Justice, and State departments, The Hill reported. The plan in the works would reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years, according to The Hill.
The NEA, NEH and CPB have long been targets of conservatives. The NEA in particular has been under attack from conservatives since the 1980s, when President Ronald Reagan unsuccessfully tried to abolish it. Then in the 1990s, the endowment’s funding was threatened under George H.W. Bush when the Corcoran Gallery displayed work by artist Robert Mapplethorpe that offended Republican lawmakers. The incident prompted Republicans to pass a bill that restricted the grantees that the NEA could fund. The NEH has also been target by Republicans for a while, and House Speaker Paul Ryan has proposed eliminating funding for the endowment in the past.
Funding for public broadcasting has also been on the chopping block for years. When Newt Gingrich served as House speaker in the 1990s, he tried to eliminate funding for public broadcasting, but ultimately failed. Almost 20 years later, Republicans passed a budget in 2011 that would have eliminated the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The Hill did not name its sources but indicated that “staffers for the Trump transition team have been meeting with career staff at the White House” to discuss the budget.
The report in The Hill did not include a document but the outlet reported that the proposal is similar to budgets offered by the Heritage Foundation and the Republican Study Committee in the past.
Cabinet nominees have not yet reviewed the proposed budget and will have a chance to review and appeal for changes after taking office, The Hill reported.
Mess with Cookie Monster? Ill-advised…
Is his new slogan, “Make America a Cultural Wasteland?”
Total savings from eviscerating the last remaining bits of publicly-funded culture in Americans’ lives: .0000001% of federal budget.
Excellent.
Oh, I’m sure Justice Roberts will be thrilled with that idea since he’s been pestering Congress to increase their budget so they can serve Americans better. Damn, why do Republicans hate America so fucking much?
I they gut PBS I will be sad, but will try to appreciate the rich irony of the fact that PBS news has bent over backwards to be “fair to” (i.e., “easy on”) Trump and this is what they are getting in return.