Mick Mulvaney: ‘Trumponomics’ is whatever achieves 3 percent growth

Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, on Wednesday defined “Trumponomics” as policies that will get the U.S. economy to a 3 percent growth rate, saying it’s unlikely the federal government can balance its books without hitting that target.

Mr. Mulvaney also said changes to entitlement programs that President Trump has vowed not to touch will also be necessary to tackle the country’s long-term debt problem.

“The foundation for the plan is 3 percent growth. In fact, that is Trumponomics,” Mr. Mulvaney said while appearing before the House Budget Committee to talk about the administration’s fiscal 2018 budget blueprint.

“Trumponomics is whatever can get us to 3 percent growth,” he said. “I have news for you, both parties: if we do not get to 3 percent growth, it is unlikely we will ever balance the budget again.”

The 3 percent target is an ambitious goal, and one that hasn’t been sustained over the course of an entire year in some time. The Congressional Budget Office has forecast a growth rate of about 2 percent over the next 10 years.

“How pessimistic do you have to be to assume that 3 percent growth, which is less than the historical average going back to the founding of the country, less than the historical average going back to World War II, that that is somehow unreasonable?” Mr. Mulvaney said.

“What does it say about the previous administration? What does it say about the CBO, about their view of the country that they don’t think we’re ever going to be able to do that again?” he said.

“If that’s where you are, then don’t accept it. Help us figure out a way to get back to 3 percent growth,” he said. “Taxing doesn’t do it. But come up with other ideas [and] work with us on trying to figure out a way to get to 3 percent growth.”

But Rep. Mark Sanford, South Carolina Republican, said he’s crunched the numbers and simply can’t find a realistic way to make the math work.

“What it does is it perpetuates a myth that we can go out there and balance the budget without touching entitlements,” Mr. Sanford said. “It’s not only a myth, it’s frankly a lie.”

Mr. Mulvaney said the president rejected major overhauls to entitlement spending in areas like Medicare and Social Security, but the budget director acknowledged those issues will have to be addressed long-term.

“You cannot address our long-term drivers of our debt without looking at the mandatory side of the budget,” he said.

Mr. Mulvaney also offered a broad defense of the White House’s budget blueprint, saying it reflects the president’s priorities, including more money for national security, border security, law enforcement, veterans, school choice, and paid parental leave.

Democrats have criticized the budget plan for paring back spending totals in other programs, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington Democrat, called the blueprint “shockingly extreme.”

But Mr. Mulvaney said they also wanted to change the way Washington looks at spending.

“We no longer want to measure compassion by the number of programs that we have or the number of people that are on those programs,” he said. “We want to measure compassion, true compassion, by the number of people we help to get off of those programs.”