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How partisan is the national budget?

USC Gould School of Law professor Edward Kleinbard on politics and the national budget.

President Donald Trump with Mick Mulvaney, far left, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Republican congressional leaders at a working lunch in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump with Mick Mulvaney, far left, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Republican congressional leaders at a working lunch in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

This past week, President Donald Trump proposed a military spending increase of $54 billion and a plan to cut that same amount of money from the EPA and other government entities.

This is a relatively predictable set of priorities coming from a Republican administration — looking back at past administrations, there are clear ups and downs for certain sectors of the economy depending on which party controlled Congress and the presidency. 

To get a sense of how partisan budgeting has worked throughout the years, Marketplace Weekend spoke to Edward Kleinbard, professor of law and business at USC’s Gould School of Law and author of “We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money.”

To hear the full interview, tune in using the audio player above.

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