President Donald Trump has overseen reduced regulations, major tax reform, and growing national debt. Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney discussed all three at the 2018 CPAC with Conservative Review’s Deneen Borelli.

Mulvaney had been an outspoken fiscal hawk Congressman. His current duties include overseeing the federal bureaucracy and helping Trump prepare his annual budget proposal.

Deregulation

According to Mulvaney, the president has “delayed, stalled, killed” about “1,500 Obama-era regulations. He promised to do more “in the next year” and told listeners to remember that “really, really big stuff” which took years to enact “will take us just as long to get out.”

I don’t think you’ll see as much deregulation in [the next year]. But you’ll start to see some of the really big pieces of the puzzle start to come together.

Mulvaney said deregulation has been a top Trump priority. Crediting Trump’s leadership, Mulvaney said 22 regulations have been eliminated for every new one created. That claim has been ruled “Mostly False” by PolitiFact. The left-leaning fact-checker cited three experts who said many rolled-back regulations had minimal economic impacts and were often technical.

Borelli asked what impact deregulation would have. Mulvaney shared the story of a couple Trump spoke with in Texas after last fall’s hurricanes. The couple “lost their home, their car, and their small business.” Trump expected the couple “to be completely distraught, but they were optimistic … cheerful.” They planned to reopen their business. They told Trump that because of less regulation, “we’ll be successful again.”

The crowd cheered when Mulvaney said the administration “especially” likes deregulation “because we can do most if it without Congress.” However, he cautioned them to “be careful about how much executive authority you want.”

Growing National Debt

Borelli next asked Mulvaney about the administration’s budget proposal. The document projects an additional nine trillion dollars of publicly held debt in the next decade, on top of America’s current debt. It also projects $13 trillion in economic growth. Like his predecessor’s, Trump’s economic projections have been panned as unrealistic.

The budget document came less than two months after a projected $1.5 trillion increase in debt due to tax reform. A proposed infrastructure plan will cost $1.5 trillion.

Mulvaney said the administration can’t balance the budget within 10 years. “The cards we’ve been dealt” require deficit spending. The Pentagon needs more money to fix problems left over from the Obama administration and increased threats from North Korea. To get Democratic Congressional leaders to support those increases, the administration had to promise equal boosts to social programs.

“That was the negotiation,” he said. The Democrats’ had demanded an “extortion payment,” which will cost an extra $125 billion over two years.

Mulvaney said “the way to do better on spending is to elect more Republicans.” He admitted that both parties fail on responsible spending, and doubted “there is the will in Congress” to balance the budget through cuts alone. Voters must elect “Republicans who care about fiscal restraint” so that fast economic growth helps balance the budget.

When Borelli brought up interest rates, Mulvaney stated that every one percentage rise in interest rates equals about $1.6 trillion in increased spending over 10 years. He also said that the same one percent growth in economic activity “saves us $3.26 trillion” in 10 years.

According to Mulvaney, “you’ve never had a job in a healthy economy” if you are under 30 years old. He cited three percent growth in two quarters in 2017 as healthy. He did not mention that a recent report showed that the U.S. economy grew at 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Tax Reform

The final topic was taxes. Mulvaney said that the administration was surprised at the speed of corporate response to tax reform. Many multi-national corporations have announced major bonuses and raises.

Borelli asked about the deficits the tax reform is expected to create. Mulvaney said the administration didn’t only lower taxes, but “changed the tax system.” His office predicts revenues will go down for four years. Then, revenues will “tick up” to where the federal government will “take in an extra $450 billion in” 2027.

According to Mulvaney, more federal revenue will continue to rise afterwards. “That’s how this works,” he said. “You get richer, the government gets more money. That’s the only way we’re going to get … deficits under control.”

Deregulation and tax reform created confidence in American business, he continued. That confidence “has never … been higher” in the opinions of business leaders to whom he spoke with on a recent trip. He told the CPAC audience, “We are not out to get you anymore. Go out, do what you do, do your jobs, start a company…prove to people that capitalism works. … The government will no longer be in your way.”