In Trump's blueprint to reorder the federal government, echoes of Reagan '81

By Dan Balz March 16 at 12:01 AM

President Trump’s governing blueprint represents the most ambitious effort to cut domestic spending and pare back the federal government since former president Ronald Reagan came to Washington in 1981. Whether it will come close to accomplishing the president’s ambitions is a far different question.

Trump’s new budget proposes to raise discretionary defense spending by $54 billion in the next fiscal year and cut domestic discretionary spending by an equivalent amount, a sizable shift in priorities. To pay for his defense buildup, he would take huge chunks out of the budgets at the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies. The list of programs identified for elimination is lengthy, with targets both familiar and obscure.

The president’s ambitions go beyond the numbers in his new budget, however. Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order designed to reorganize the executive branch. Unlike President Bill Clinton’s initiative to reinvent government, Trump’s order appears to be far more expansive, with a stated goal of finding programs and perhaps whole agencies that could be eliminated.

“Presidents create their own eras,” said John Samples of the Cato Institute. “If he did this — whatever he said in the campaign — you might see a different cycle going forward with more restraint and a reduction in the size of government. This could be the beginning of a new cycle, but he’s got to get from here to there.”

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