Trump Picks SC Rep. Mick Mulvaney as Budget Director
President-elect Donald Trump has selected South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney to head the Office of Management and Budget.
Mulvaney helped established the House Freedom Caucus and is known for his hardline stance against federal spending under the Obama administration.
“We are going to do great things for the American people with Mick Mulvaney leading the Office of Management and Budget,” Trump said in a statement. “Right now we are nearly $20 trillion in debt, but Mick is a very high-energy leader with deep convictions for how to responsibly manage our nation’s finances and save our country from drowning in red ink.
“With Mick at the head of OMB, my administration is going to make smart choices about America’s budget, bring new accountability to our federal government, and renew the American taxpayer’s trust in how their money is spent,” he added.
The conservative fiscal leader is a strong proponent of spending cuts and has fought against raising the nation's debt limit, according to the Associated Press.
As budget director, Mulvaney will help implement Trump's promised tax cuts and infrastructure investments as well as work to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
According to the Washington Post, Mulvaney's chief duty will be to overhaul the nation's tax code. Trump has promised to make the process easier for individual households and slash the rate for corporations from 35 percent to 15 percent.
The reform is a central component of Trump's agenda to boost economic growth by four percent or higher.
“Mick Mulvaney is the absolute right choice,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said. “In Congress, he has been a conservative reformer from day one, proposing solutions to fix the budget process and our regulatory system.”
“At OMB, he will lead the work he has started to improve the way government does the people’s business,” he added.
Meanwhile, on the latest stop of his "thank you" tour, Trump told a crowd of military veterans in Florida that he will work to build up the country's armed forces, but that he would use them sparingly as commander-in-chief.
"For too long, we've moving from one reckless intervention to another, to countries you've never heard of before," Trump said at a rally Friday night in Orlando. "It's crazy and it's going to stop."
Trump emphasized his promise to defeat the Islamic State group. He offered little details but promised to implement a foreign policy strategy that "means crushing ISIS rapidly."
Trump will make his final tour stop on Saturday at a football stadium in Mobile, Alabama. It was the site of the largest rally in his campaign.
Then he will return to Mar-a-Lago, his palatial Palm Beach estate. The president-elect will likely spend all of Christmas week there, taking meetings and relaxing with his family, and could stay at the coastal resort until New Year's.
