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President Trump isnt much interested in legislative details, and these days House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) isnt much interested in candor. That explains how they can both claim to be perfectly in sync and yet be heading for huge clashes on fundamental policy ideas. In fact, on defense spending, the budget more generally, entitlements and reforming health care and taxes, the differences between the GOP-controlled Crngress and the White House threaten to overwhelm progress on major initiatives.

On defense spending, for example, Trump announced a $54 billion increase in defense spending. That would require 60 votes to override the existing caps on the Budget Control Act (BCA). Democrats surely wont agree to proposed, massive offsetting cuts in domestic problems, but even Republicans are unenthusiastic about Trumps proposal.

Defense News reports thatHouse Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) have each proposeda $640 billion base budget and argue this is a meager $18 billion more than President Obama had planned:

McCain, in a statement, said the figure was, a mere 3 percentabove President Obamas defense budget, which has left our military underfunded, undersized, and unready to confront threats to our national security With a world on fire, America cannot secure peace through strength with just 3 percent more than President Obamas budget. We can and must do better. . . . .

While we cannot repair all of the damage done by those cuts in a single year, we can and should do more than this level of funding will allow, Thornberry said in a statement. The administration will have to make clear which problems facing our military they are choosing not to fix.We cannot make repairing and rebuilding our military conditional on fixing our budget problems or on cutting other spending.

Overall, the presidents budget doubles down on the Obama administrations fiscal irresponsibility and the flaw in the BCA: refusing to address entitlement programs while squeezing popular domestic programs. Trumps own defense secretary has spoken out previously about cuts slashing foreign aid and diplomatic functions that complement the militarys mission. Republicans in Congress will find it difficult to swallow huge new cuts in popular programs such as the National Institutes of Health, national parks, NASA, job training, etc. Likewise, if Trumps budget increases the debt, which it almost inevitably will, you can expect budget hawks, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), to balk.

The decision to seek major tax cuts while taking entitlement reform out of the equation means that a fiscally sound budget is virtually impossible. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reminds us:

Domestic discretionary spending what the administration proposed to cut today to pay for defense increases only accounts for about 15 percent of spending and less than 5 percent of spending growth over the next decade. Social Security and health spending, on the other hand, account for half of total spending and almost two-thirds of spending growth over the next decade.

President Trump and administration officials have said in the past they will not propose any changes in Social Security and Medicare, even though both are on a path to insolvency. Entitlement reforms are necessary not only to protect those who depend on them but also to slow rising debt levels and create fiscal space for other programs, which are currently being crowded out.

Move over to Obamacare, and you see the Freedom Caucus in rebellion over the one element in the GOP plans that would aim to replace Obamacares health-care subsidies refundable tax credits. No way, the right-wingers say. The Hill reports:

The chairman of the influential Republican Study Committee said Monday he would vote against a draft ObamaCare replacement bill that leaked last week.Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), head of the 172-member committee, said Monday his opposition stems from the draft bills use of refundable tax credits. There are serious problems with what appears to be our current path to repeal and replace Obamacare. The draft legislation, which was leaked last week, risks continuing major Obamacare entitlement expansions and delays any reforms, Walker said in a statementMonday.

It kicks the can down the road in the hope that a future Congress will have the political will and fiscal discipline to reduce spending that this Congress apparently lacks. Worse still, Walker continued, the bill contains what increasingly appears to be a new health insurance entitlement with a Republican stamp on it.

Finally, on tax reform, any plan that slashes rates on individuals and businesses without offsetting revenue will be a nonstarter for many conservatives, while Democrats are not going to support any plan that delivers big tax cuts for the rich. Ryans effort to make the numbers work through use of a border adjustment tax has run into a brick wall of opposition among Republican senators as well as business and consumer groups.

In sum, the White House seems oblivious to the unworkability of its plans and the fundamental differences within the GOP ranks. Ryan evidences no awareness as to how unpopular the specifics of his health-care and tax plans will be. How this all gets resolved even before Republicans try rounding up Democrats to pass measures that gut domestic spending, cut back on Medicaid and other health-care measures and give more tax cuts to the rich is anyones guess. In setting unattainable goals, overestimating Obamacare criticism and failing to appreciate the publics resistance to hard-right positions, the GOP may wind up with nothing to show for its 2016 wins. If so, it will face the real possibility of losing at least one of its majorities in 2018.

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Republicans are headed for huge clashes with Trump - Washington Post (blog)