Rep. Todd Rokita acknowledged Monday that President Trump’s budget request isn’t balanced, but said it addresses the biggest drivers of debt for a long-term improvement.
“What the president’s budget request is doing here is going after the real drivers of our debt, and that’s the mandatory spending. And he’s doing it in a very humane way,” Mr. Rokita, Indiana Republican, said on Fox News.
Mr. Rokita was a big proponent of balancing the budget during the Obama years, but he said past budgets never addressed mandatory spending. Mr. Trump’s budget addresses programs like Medicaid by trying to put in place a work or volunteer requirement for benefits, which Mr. Rokita said was a first step toward addressing the problem of mandatory spending.
He also said he supports the president’s infrastructure plan, explaining that the plan is based on “reprioritizing” money, rather than requesting additional funds.
“I think it’s a great plan, $200 billion from the government to seed things — hopefully not new or printed money — but reprioritizing things. And that’s what this presidential budget request is all about,” Mr. Rokita explained.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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