Elon Musk Has New Idea For Donald Trump: Giant Budget Cuts

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : And if veterans programs were also protected, in addition to Social Security, Medicare and defense, the cuts to other programs would rise to 89%, Kogan said.
54% : Social Security outlays totaled $1.5 trillion, while Medicare spending was $874 billion, the same amount as defense spending for the year.
48% : Since entering politics as a presidential candidate in 2015, he has steered the Republican Party away from its past support for cuts to retirement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
45% : Exempting Social Security, he said, would result in a 44% cut for all other programs.
45% : Adding Medicare to the exemption list with Social Security would make the across-the-board cuts bigger, at 56%.
41% : Since Social Security and Medicare by themselves amount to about a third of federal spending, holding them harmless from an across-the-board reduction means cuts to other programs would have to be much deeper.
35% : It's not clear if Trump would actually push for a new government agency or nominate Musk to lead it.
34% : Still, Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump's presidential transition team, rhapsodized Sunday about the federal government of the early 1900s, a time when there were no income taxes and no Social Security or Medicare.
27% : Though it's typical for Republicans to say they support spending cuts and balanced budgets, Trump has never championed fiscal austerity.
18% : Trump has promoted Musk as someone who could identify wasteful federal spending, but a $2 trillion cut would amount to almost a third of the budget and crush a range of popular programs -- especially if popular ones like Social Security are exempted.

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