White House tells feds to prepare Trump’s February budget through 2022
'We're all supposed to pretend this is normal, and do all this work.'
The Trump White House is moving forward with planning a spending agenda through 2022, in what appears to be yet another attempt to reject Joe Biden’s election win.
The president and his lame-duck staff have reportedly instructed federal agencies to continue working on the administration’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year, according to The Washington Post.
The budget is usually issued in February. President-elect Joe Biden will take Trump’s place on January 20.
“They’re pretending nothing happened,” an unnamed official told The Post. “We’re all supposed to pretend this is normal, and do all this work, while we know we’re just going to have to throw it away.”
Read More: Following Trump, GOP congressional candidates refuse to concede
The Trump administration has also instructed senior government officials to not cooperate with Biden’s transition team. The president continues to refuse to graciously concede the election to the projected winner.
theGRIO previously reported, Melania Trump refuses to congratulate the soon-to-be new first lady or set up a meeting – a customary pleasantry that was extended to her by Michelle Obama. She is also posting messages on social media that seem to echo her husband’s sentiments that he was cheated during the election.
“The preparations going on now are not surprising given the administration’s position on the outcome of the election,” Chantel Boyens, a policy associate at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, told the Post. “At the point at which you know the outcome of the election, it would not make sense to continue formulating policy recommendations for a new budget to be put out by the outgoing administration.”
Read More: Melania Trump refuses to meet with Dr. Jill Biden: report
Biden said Tuesday at a news conference in Wilmington, Del., that he has no plans to legally force the Trump administration to acknowledge him as the clear winner of the 2020 presidential election.
“I’m confident that the fact that they’re not willing to acknowledge we won at this point is not that much consequence in our planning and what we’re able to do between now and Jan. 20,” he said.
On Trump’s refusals to concede, Biden said “I just think it’s an embarrassment, quite frankly. How can I say this tactfully? I think it will not help the president’s legacy.”
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