Mulvaney, a fiscal hawk and former member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Trump quashed potential changes to Social Security, citing his campaign pledge not to touch the program.
“I laid to him the options that Mick Mulvaney would put on a piece of paper,” Mulvaney told CNBC in an interview that aired Tuesday. “And [Trump] looked at one and said, ‘What is that?’ And I said, ‘Well, that's a change to part of Social Security.’ He said, ‘No. No.’ He said, ‘I told people I wouldn't change that when I ran. And I'm not going to change that. Take that off the list.’ ”
Trump released his first budget proposal on March 16. The plan includes steep cuts to domestic programs and an increase in defense spending but doesn't touch Social Security or Medicare.
Trump’s position on Social Security and Medicare during the campaign promised not to “cut” either program, but he hasn’t specified what he’d consider a cut.
