Advocacy Group: Trump Can Slash $1.4 Trillion from the Federal Budget (Over Ten Years) Just By Cancelling Biden's Executive Action

That's a start.

President-elect Donald Trump can cut the federal deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next decade by rescinding President Biden's executive actions, according to a report.

The potential cost-cutting was identified by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-profit that advocates for fiscal restraint, as Trump's informal Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, looks for areas to slash spending.

The Tesla billionaire and close confidant of Trump, 78, has already vowed to cut the bloated federal budget by "at least $2 trillion."

"Unlike most deficit reduction measures, reversing costly executive actions from the Biden [administration] would not require Congressional action, and could be done through the rulemaking process," the nonprofit's report notes.

CRFB said that up to $550 billion could be saved by eliminating Biden's pending plans to forgive student loan debt -- including the SAVE Income-Driven Repayment Program, which alone could pare down spending by up to $275 billion, according to the report.

The SAVE initiative, in which 8 million borrowers are enrolled, already is in limbo pending the outcome of a federal court case -- with Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey in August notching a win after the US Supreme Court upheld a decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the debt cancellation.

The program caps student loan payments and allows debt to be forgiven in as little as 10 years and is facing legal scrutiny after Biden's earlier $430 billion plan to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 in student debt per borrower was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2023.

The CRFB says another up to $150 billion can be saved by ending pending policies involving the forgiveness of student loan interest -- and that up to $110 billion can be wiped for borrowers reporting hardship in making repayments.

Trump really needs to slash the budget. It's not just a Republican imperative, it's necessary if he wants to bring inflation down, quickly. And if he doesn't bring it down quickly, he'll lose his momentum and political capitol and be an early lame-duck president.

It's necessary to get rid of these fake dollars Biden filled the economy with. They drive inflation. Trump can get rid of some of these fake dollars just by turning off the taps of government deficit spending, spending tomorrow's (hypothetical) dollars today.

If Trump can't cut spending, his only options for reducing inflation are relying on the Fed to keep interest rates high. But this strangles economic growth.

Or, he could raises taxes. But this strangles economic growth.

No, his only choice is to cut spending. And there's a lot of bad spending to cut.

But Trump will have to fight his own instincts. He's a free-spending guy who believes in FDR-style prime pumping and Keynesian stimulus. Someone will have to sit him down and make sure he understands that unless he rejects more monetary stimulus and more fake dollars in the economy, inflation will remain high, and it will cripple this critical presidency.

posted by Ace at 03:00 PM

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