Open Letter From Conservative Leaders Urging Republicans To Support President Trump’s 2018 Budget Proposal

Republicans should support President Trump’s
2018 Budget Proposal

The Conservative Movement wholeheartedly supports President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal.

April 25, 2017
Washington, DC

Any budget is a series of compromises, between what is ideal and what is achievable. Conservatives know that Rome wasn’t built — or burned — in a day. Nevertheless, the Conservative Movement rightly expected the Trump administration to start any budget negotiations closer to the ideal than any administration has been able to for decades.

And that is what it has done. The proposed budget is a major step in the right direction, even though it does not save a lot of money compared to the total budget. But even the savings it does achieve, one percent, just 1%, of the discretionary budget, is a major achievement. Most budgets increase spending. This one shrinks it.

Critics will cry foul: they will say the cuts are draconian. But it simply cannot be that the country cannot survive a 1 percent reduction in the discretionary budget. Families across America do that, and a lot more besides, every year. This budget will demonstrate that it is possible to cut spending without having the oceans begin to rise or the planet begin to suffer.

And even though the budget is still high, how the money is saved is significant. It is saved by eliminating programs that have no constitutional justification, thereby returning the government of the country to its proper constitutional basis. That in itself is a major achievement, and one that conservatives can build on in the future.

This budget eliminates all $148 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, all $148 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the $230 million Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the $445 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including PBS and NPR. $445 million may not seem like a lot of money to some congressmen, but many Americans go their entire lives without seeing that kind of money.

And in addition, the budget completely eliminates the following agencies:

African Development Foundation
Appalachian Regional Commission
Chemical Safety Board
Corporation for National and Community Service
Delta Regional Authority
Denali Commission
Inter-American Foundation
U.S. Trade and Development Agency
Legal Services Corporation
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
Northern Border Regional Commission
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
U.S. Institute of Peace
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

The conservative joke going around Washington these days is, “What do you call the elimination of 19 federal agencies?” You guessed it: “A beginning.”

This is a budget conservatives are happy to support enthusiastically.

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Former White House Advisor,
President Ronald Reagan

The Honorable Mike Spence
Founding President
Conservative Republicans of California

The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Former Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan

Sherri R. Martin
Executive Vice President
The Martin Organization, Inc.

Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the
American Future

Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D
Board Chair, Institure on Religion and 
Democracy and Board Executive Committee,
World Congress of Families

The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.

The Honorable James C. Miller III
Budget Director
President Reagan
(1985-1988)

Dan Greenberg
President 
Advance Arkansas Institute

Ginni Thomas
President
Liberty Consulting

Jenny Beth Martin
Co-Founder and CEO
Tea Party Patriots

Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary

James P. Backlin
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
Christian Coalition of America

C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Jerry Melvin
President
Florida Republican Assembly

James L. Martin
Chairman
60 Plus Association

Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation

Charlie Cato
Chairman
Leading The Way PAC

Michael J. Bowen
CEO
Coalition for a Strong America

Dee Hodges
President
Maryland Taxpayers Association

Thomas A. Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste

Eunie Smith
President
Eagle Forum

The Honorable Michael R. Long
State Chairman
New York State
Conservative Party

William L. Walton
Vice President
Council for National Policy

Joseph A. Morris
Partner
Morris & De La Rosa

Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values

Rick Scarborough
Founder
Vision America Action

Patrick Foose
Director of Communications
Life Issues Institute

Heather R. Higgins
President and CEO
Independent Women’s Voice

Richard Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government

Charlie Gerow
Vice Chairman 
American Conservative Union

L. Brent Bozell, III
Founder and President 
Media Research Center

The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli II
President
Senate Conservatives Fund

Robert K. Fischer
Meeting Coordinator
Conservatives of Faith

Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.
Washington Bureau Chief
Inforwars.com

The Honorable Belden Bell
Cochair Legacy Society
Heritage Foundation

Kevin D. Freeman
Founder
NSIC Institute

Richard P. Bott, Sr.
Founder
Bott Radio Network

Grover Glenn Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform

Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness

Gayle Trotter
President
American Womens Alliance

William W. Pascoe, III
Managing Partner
Antietam Communications

Allen Hebert
Chairman
American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston

Sabrina Schaeffer
Executive Director
Independent Women’s Forum

Michael K. Taylor
Bennett Int. Group, Inc.

Richard H. Wright

(All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only)