Why did the President propose a budget after Congress funded government for 2 years

[albionmoonlight]

Keeping this out of the President Trump thread b/c it really is a mechanical and not political question (I think).

Congress just passed, and Trump just signed, a bill to fund the government for two years.

Now I keep seeing references to Trump's proposed budget.

What is this thing? Why is he proposing it right after we just passed two years of funding? Is Congress seriously going to debate this thing and change what it just passed?

[Young Drachma]

The CR only lasts through March 23rd, not for two years.

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/9/16993746/congress-government-shutdown-open-daca

Congress came to an agreement that will fund the government through March 23. This will give congressional staff the time to write bigger appropriations bills that would actually fund the federal government under the parameters set by the new budget caps.

That will amount to significant increases in spending for domestic programs and the military over the next two years.

Specifically, the agreement will:

Extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for 10 years
Fund community health centers for two years
Include $80 billion in disaster relief funding
Put $6 billion in funding toward opioid and mental health treatment
Set aside $5.8 billion for the bipartisan Child Care Development Block Grant
Put $4 billion toward the Veterans Administration to rebuild and improve veterans hospitals and clinics
Send $2 billion to research at the National Institutes of Health
Put $20 billion toward infrastructure, including highways, water, wastewater, and rural broadband
Set aside $4 billion for college affordability programs for police officers, teachers, and firefighters
And add $7 billion in funding and a two-year reauthorization for community health centers

[stevew]

A: Cocaine, Propecia, Viagara and Big Mac Sauce don't mix well.

[SirFozzie]

Keeping this out of the President Trump thread b/c it really is a mechanical and not political question (I think).

Congress just passed, and Trump just signed, a bill to fund the government for two years.

Now I keep seeing references to Trump's proposed budget.

What is this thing? Why is he proposing it right after we just passed two years of funding? Is Congress seriously going to debate this thing and change what it just passed?

red meat to the fiscal hawks and fuck the poors types.

[claphamsa]

the 2 year budget is NOT an appropriation. we cant do anything with a budget, Trump has no thoughts about budget, but Mulveiny wants to cut cut cut cut cut.

that being said, we got the caps the day our drop dead was for final inputs on the budget so...the addendum is nonsense. normal presidents use the budget as a signalling device, this admin is not willing to compare the fiction from the heritage foundation to any possible reality, so no signalling can be done.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Geez, after reading that "agreement", I'd seriously have preferred to see 'em shut down.

[chesapeake]

Just to build on what clap wrote, Congress agreed on the maximum funding levels for all federal agencies for the remainder of this year (FY18) and next year (FY19). Congress will take those overall FY18 numbers and allocate individual amounts to departments, agencies and programs for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30. They'll likely finish that by mid-March.

The President just offered his budget for the next fiscal year, FY19. It is just a proposal. Congress sets the actual funding numbers. Congress will consider the President's proposal while it is writing legislation to appropriate funding for next year, but since Trump's budget doesn't reach the funding levels he and Congress just agreed to, I'm not sure how much the final bills will reflect his priorities.

[claphamsa]

Just to build on what clap wrote, Congress agreed on the maximum funding levels for all federal agencies for the remainder of this year (FY18) and next year (FY19). Congress will take those overall FY18 numbers and allocate individual amounts to departments, agencies and programs for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30. They'll likely finish that by mid-March.

The President just offered his budget for the next fiscal year, FY19. It is just a proposal. Congress sets the actual funding numbers. Congress will consider the President's proposal while it is writing legislation to appropriate funding for next year, but since Trump's budget doesn't reach the funding levels he and Congress just agreed to, I'm not sure how much the final bills will reflect his priorities.

the bills rarely reflect the presidents priorities, and thats in the past when presidents try to keep their requests at least semi reasonable. Trump has made no effort to do so.

[chesapeake]

the bills rarely reflect the presidents priorities, and thats in the past when presidents try to keep their requests at least semi reasonable. Trump has made no effort to do so.

Couldn't disagree more.

It depends on a lot of factors, most importantly, whether the branches are being led by the same party or not. But, even when they are from different parties, Congress invariably has to give the president some of what he wants because, at the end of the process, he has to sign the things.

There are also a number of little games that go on during the process. A common tactic for presidents is to make cuts or additions to programs that everyone knows Congress won't accept so that they can trade it away later in the game for another request or for a smaller cut/plus-up to that account. I think the Trump budget proposals are that to an absurd degree.

His FY18 budget was that kind of play, with mixed results. He's going to get a big boost to DoD funding, which he really wanted, and I think some funding for his border wall will be in the end product. So, in the end, what are emerging as this president's actual priorities are getting addressed. I have no doubt that a more able politician would have been able to do much, much better than this one, but it can't be denied that even this president is getting some of what he wants.

[claphamsa]

i think what you describe is a functioning political world, I disagree we are in one, but wont go into why so i dont get fired :)