Trump's Budget Proposal Boosts Military, Cuts Funding for Domestic Programs

The White House released its budget blueprint for fiscal year 2018 on Thursday, outlining increases in defense spending and cuts to environmental and foreign aid programs. Dubbed "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again," the proposal called for boosting military funding by 10 percent, or $54 billion, while cutting a corresponding amount from non-defense programs to offset the increase.

It’s important to note that presidential budget proposals rarely get introduced in their entirety as legislation, let alone enacted into law, as even a sympathetic Congress has its own priorities and ultimately controls the budgeting process. What the administration released today is known as the "skinny budget" because it aims to give members of Congress insight into the president’s priorities without the granular detail of the complete budget proposal, which will be released in May.

What’s in the "skinny budget" and what got left out?

While there’s a lot in this budget proposal to unpack, it’s worth making note of what wasn’t included in the skinny budget.

Two well-known mandatory spending programs which accounted for about 39 percent of all federal spending in 2015,Medicare and Social Security, aren’t targeted for reforms in this budget proposal. It also doesn’t offer any insight into what two of President Trump’s major policy goals from the campaign trail — tax reform and an infrastructure package — will look like, as those will be subject to negotiations with Congress.

Cabinet Agencies: Of the 15 federal departments that make up the Cabinet, all but three would experience budget cuts under the president’s proposal. The Dept. of Defense ($52.3 billion), the Dept. of Homeland Security ($2.8 billion), and the Dept. of Veterans Affairs ($4.4 billion) would be the recipients of more funding in 2018 than they were allocated for fiscal year 2017. Much of the increase would go toward funding increased personnel levels in the military and DHS, following through with planned defense acquisitions, beginning construction on the border wall, and improving the services veterans receive from the VA.

For the other 12 agencies, some would experience more severe cuts than others. The deepest cuts would occur to the Dept. of Health and Human Services ($12.6 billion), the State Dept. ($10.9 billion), and the Dept. of Education ($9.2 billion).

At HHS, the National Institutes of Health alone would bear $5.8 billion of the reduction in funding, while another $4.2 billion in savings would come from cuts to programs within the Office of Community Services. Decreases in funding at the State Dept. would be focused on foreign aid programs, assistance to the United Nations, and the World Bank. Within the Dept. of Education, $3.9 billion in carryover funding for Pell Grants would be eliminated, while another $3.6 billion in cuts would come from grant programs to improve teacher training and expand access to before- and after-school programs.

Independent Agencies: There are a numerous independent agencies that would have their funding eliminated entirely. Some of those include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts (and its counterpart for the humanities), and the U.S. Institute of Peace, among others.

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— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Creative Commons)