Trump budget slashes agency money to boost defense spending

President Trump has promised not to alter mandatory spending.

The budget will increase defense spending by $54 billion dollars. Defense spending alone is approximately half of all discretionary spending. Federal investigators have been looking into possible contacts between Trump advisers and Russian Federation, while congressional committees are investigating Russia’s role in political hacking during the campaign.

“You had an “America first” candidate, you have an “America first” budget”, said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget and a conservative former congressman from SC. “We have simply not added to the deficit in order to accomplish these policies”.

In his first federal budget proposal, President Donald Trump will recommend deep spending cuts to federal agencies overseeing housing, the environment and diplomacy, an architect of the plan said Wednesday, and would likely lead to a smaller federal workforce. “So you’ve seen money move from soft power programs such as foreign aid into more hard power programs”.

“We wrote it using the president’s own words”, said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

As anticipated, the Trump budget will include increases for defense spending and border protection.

Mulvaney provided only limited information in advance of the budget’s official release, declining repeatedly to go into detail in part because he said department and agency heads had broad authority to determine where and whom to cut.

“You can’t drain the swamp and leave all the people in it”, Mulvaney said.

Law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation would be spared, while the border wall would receive an immediate $1.5 billion infusion in the ongoing fiscal year, with another $2.6 billion planned for the 2018 budget year starting October 1. The plan would eliminate more than $250 million in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants, including a program that helps coastal communities adapt to climate change, deal with invasive species and maintain healthy water and fisheries.

The White House on unveil at 7 a.m. Thursday what it is a calling an “America First” budget for the federal government.

Some others would lose everything: Trump proposes to eliminate money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the national endowments for arts and humanities and more than a dozen other independent agencies financed by the government.

When asked whether anticipated cuts to the Coast Guard – which are rumored to be used to pay for the wall – would impact border security, Mulvaney reiterated that parent agency DHS would be getting a 6 percent increase and that reports claiming the administration would be axing a Coast Guard cutter were “not accurate”.

“The president ran saying he would spend less money overseas and more money at home”, Mulvaney said.

While trade groups, members of Congress and local advocates are discussing what projects they want to include in this dream of a huge infrastructure package that may or may not come up later this year, they could see devastating cuts proposed for crucial transportation programs that fund smart transportation projects all across the country in less than 48 hours… “You had the ‘America first” candidate and you have the “America first’ budget”.

The Trump administration will release its full budget in May and, according to Mulvaney, that is when the 10-year projection on the border wall will be outlined.

Mr Trump repeatedly claimed during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall when, in fact, U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill. As a result, Republican leaders were often forced to look to Democrats to secure enough votes to advance those must-pass measures, giving the left more negotiating power.

Mulvaney also preemptively addressed questions about the cost of the wall and how many miles could be paid for by the requested sum, pointing to the still-uncertain plans for its construction.