--- title: Trump Budget: Congressional Republicans Skeptical description: Republican lawmakers expressed skepticism about some of the cuts proposed in President Trump's budget. canonical: https://time.com/4704468/trump-budget-congress-reaction/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-16T20:59:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:53:28.847Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump's Budget Faces Skepticism in Congress og:description: "It's dead on arrival — it's not going to happen." og:url: https://time.com/4704468/trump-budget-congress-reaction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c46d12bf8109514/6988be9e8e06011db5469943/donald-trump-nashville-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds Rally In Nashville, Tennessee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump's Budget Faces Skepticism in Congress twitter:description: "It's dead on arrival — it's not going to happen." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c46d12bf8109514/6988be9e8e06011db5469943/donald-trump-nashville-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Budget Faces Skepticism in Congress > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 16, 2017 8:59 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on March 15, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on March 15, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. Andrea Morales/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 16, 2017 8:59 PM UTC Republican lawmakers expressed skepticism about some of the cuts proposed in President Trump’s budget. As the Trump Administration [unveiled proposed cuts](http://time.com/4703172/donald-trump-budget-state-department-epa-funding/) to programs about the environment, public broadcasting and foreign aid while boosting border security and defense spending, some in Congress suggested the final budget they pass may look much different. “It’s unrealistic to think we’re going to pay for a defense increase entirely on the backs of non-defense discretionary spending,” Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania said. Dent was concerned about [cuts to medical research](http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/16/520390147/trump-administration-proposes-big-cuts-in-medical-research) at the National Institutes of Health. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, meantime, was concerned about cuts to the State Department. “It’s dead on arrival — it’s not going to happen,” Graham said, [according to NBC News](https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/836633775169748992). “It would be a disaster.” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida [said he was concerned](http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/sen-marco-rubio-concerned-about-trumps-proposed-budget-cuts/2314797) about cuts to foreign aid. “The administration’s budget isn’t going to be the budget,” [he said](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-federal-budget-2018-massive-cuts-to-the-arts-science-and-the-poor/2017/03/15/0a0a0094-09a1-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.43e7d2f4385a). “We do the budget here. The administration makes recommendations, but Congress does budgets.” Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho said he was concerned about cuts to the Army Corps of Engineers. “Cuts there could be difficult to accept,” he told TIME. And Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said he would fight a proposed end to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. “I have long championed this program, and I’m committed to continuing to do everything I can to protect and preserve Lake Erie, including preserving this critical program and its funding,” he said, [according to Bloomberg News](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-16/trump-s-steep-cuts-face-rebuff-in-congress-even-with-gop-control). Meantime, Dent cited an old congressional saying about president’s budget. “Bottom line here is the President proposes and Congress disposes,” he said, “and we will do our due diligence.” _With Sam Frizell_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4704468/trump-budget-congress-reaction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4704468/trump-budget-congress-reaction/"},"headline":"President Trump's Budget Faces Skepticism in Congress","datePublished":"2017-03-16T20:59:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:53:28.847Z","description":"Republican lawmakers expressed skepticism about some of the cuts proposed in President Trump's budget.","url":"https://time.com/4704468/trump-budget-congress-reaction/","keywords":["Congress","White House","Budget","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c46d12bf8109514/6988be9e8e06011db5469943/donald-trump-nashville-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c46d12bf8109514/6988be9e8e06011db5469943/donald-trump-nashville-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds Rally In Nashville, Tennessee","caption":"President Trump Holds Rally In Nashville, Tennessee","creditText":"Andrea Morales/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4704468/trump-budget-congress-reaction/","name":"President Trump's Budget Faces Skepticism in Congress"}}]}] ```