Story at a glance
- President Trump will submit a national budget proposal on Feb. 10.
- Safety net and social programs as well as foreign aid will see cuts in budget figures.
- Military spending will see a slight increase.
President Trump’s forthcoming budget due today is expected to allocate $4.8 trillion toward defense programs and veterans and cut $4.4 trillion over the next decade from social programs and foreign aid.
According to the Wall Street Journal, an administration source said President Trump’s plan will increase military spending by 0.3 percent to $740.5 billion for the 2021 fiscal year. Conversely, the nondefense discretionary spending budget will get cut by $590 billion.
The Journal notes that this is below what Congress and the president had decided on in a two-year budget deal negotiated last year.
Further cuts are expected to hit programs like Medicare prescription drug pricing by slashing $130 billion, cutting another $130 billion from both Medicaid work requirements and food stamps. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), too, will continue to face budget cuts of up to 26 percent.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would also see a budget cut of 9 percent. Compensating for this will be $4.3 billion in funding set aside to fight infectious diseases.
Foreign aid, too, is expected to decrease by 21 percent.
Programs like NASA, however, would see a 12 percent increase as a bolster to President Trump’s goal of expanding space programs, resulting in about $3 billion in additional funding, according to TechCrunch.
The border wall initiative that is a hallmark in President Trump’s policies and campaign is to get $2 billion, which is less than the original $5 billion requested last year that triggered a record-breaking five-week government shutdown.
In accordance with his campaign promises, the Department of Veterans Affairs would receive an increase in funding by 13 percent, along with the Department of Homeland Security and the National Nuclear Security Administration, receiving 3 percent and 19 percent increases, respectively.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
