Trump’s Budget Cuts Some Departments to Reallocate Funds for Defense
“We are going to do more with less.”
President Donald Trump released his plan for the 2018 federal budget titled “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” The plan includes cuts to some departments and slashes programs in order to reallocate funds to a bigger defense budget.
“One of the most important ways the Federal Government sets priorities is through the Budget of the United States,” wrote Trump. “Accordingly, I submit to the Congress this Budget Blueprint to reprioritize Federal spending so that it advances the safety and security of the American people.”
My Budget Blueprint for 2018:
- provides for one of the largest increases in defense spending without increasing the debt;
- significantly increases the budget for immigration enforcement at the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security;
- includes additional resources for a wall on the southern border with Mexico, immigration judges, expanded detention capacity, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Border Patrol;
- increases funding to address violent crime and reduces opiod abuse; and
- puts America first by keeping more of America’s hard-earned tax dollars here at home.
Trump said the military needs the proper tools “to deter war, and when called upon to fight, do only one thing: Win.”
The proposal promised no additions to our already overblown debt. To do this, he made cuts across the board “to do more with less, and make the Government lean and accountable to the people.”
Here’s an overview on some of the more significant parts of the budget.
Cuts to EPA, State Department
Trump wants to give the EPA $5.7 billion, a cut of $2.6 billion. This estimate is 31% lower than 2017 level. This includes:
- $2.3 billion for the State Revolving Funds
- $20 million for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program
- Discontinue funding for Clean Power plan, international climate change programs, climate change research and partnership programs, and related efforts
- Eliminates more than 50 EPA programs, including Energy Star and Targeted Airshed Grants
The State Department will receive a $25.6 billion budget under this proposal, a cut of $10.1 billion. That’s 28% lower than it got in 2017. The plans for the State includes:
- $2.2 billion for new embassy construction and maintenance in accordance with the Benghazi Accountability Review Board
- $3.1 billion for security assistance to Israel
- Eliminate the Global Climate Change Initiative, eliminate funding related to the Green Climate Fund and its two precursor Climate Investment Funds.
- $1 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and keep current commitments to those on HIV/AIDS treatment under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
- Reduce funds to the UN and affiliated agencies. The U.S. will not contribute more than 25% to UN peacekeeping efforts.
- Savings can go to funding for humanitarian assistance: food aid, disaster, and refugee programs
- Reduce funds to Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Exchange Programs, multilateral development banks like the World Bank.
Slight Decreases for Justice Department
The Justice Department faces a 3.8% deduction to only $27.7 billion for 2018:
- Budget $249 million for the FBI, which is a 3% increase from 2017
- Use $175 for the department to target the most violent criminal organizations and drug traffickers to address violent crime, gun deaths, and opioid abuse.
- $80 million increase to hire 75 more immigration judges.
- Hire 60 more border enforcement prosecutors and 40 deputy U.S. Marshals
- Eliminate $700 million spending on outdated programs
- Saves a billion in Federal prison construction since the population has gone down 14% since 2013.
Eliminate Independent Agencies
Trump’s budget proposal also proposes eliminating a few independent agencies, a few sacred cows to the left. These include the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for Humanities.
Quick question: Why don’t these millionaires and billionaires fund these programs then?
Other agencies include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund PBS and NPR. Politico immediately brought up Big Bird and Sesame Street, but HBO already picked up the show. Episodes still run on PBS.
Again, if it’s so sacred, then why can’t the elite Hollywood people pay for it?
Other Considerable Cuts
The proposal suggests a $59 billion budget for Education, a cut of $9 billion or 13% lower than 2017:
- Increases investments in public and private school choice by $1.4 billion for a total of $20 billion.
- Maintains $13 billion for IDEA programs for special needs students.
- Eliminates Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant programs
- Protects support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions
The Labor Department will have a $9.6 billion budget, a cut of $2.5 billion or 21% lower than 2017:
- Reduces funds towards ineffective, duplicate, and peripheral job training grants.
- Decreases support for job training and employment service formula grants, letting the states handle that.
- Eliminate the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s unproven training grants.
- Expands Reemployment and Eligibility Assessments
More Funds for Defense
As Trump noted, defense has been his pet project before he won the nomination and the presidency. This means more money for defense. He laid out his plans for the Pentagon, who would receive a $639 billion budget. That’s an increase of $52 billion from 2017:
- Helps provide resources to wipe out ISIS
- Rebuild forces by concentrating on insufficient stocks of munitions, personnel gaps, maintenance, modernization, cyber vulnerabilities, and degraded facilities.
- Build more ships for the Navy.
- Ready and fully equipped Marines>
- Air Force investments for maintenance capacity, training systems, and more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
Additional Funds for Homeland Security
But security at home for Trump also includes DHS, which he wants to give a $44.1 billion budget, a 6.8% increase from 2017:
- $2.6 billion for a wall and border security technology.
- $314 million to recruit, hire, and train 500 new Border Patrol and ICE agents.
- $1.5 billion above 2017 to expand detention, transportation, removal of illegal immigrants
- $1.5 billion to protect Federal networks from critical infrastructure from an attack
- Eliminate and reduce unauthorized and underperforming programs by the TSA.
Congress Reacts to Trump’s Budget
Those on The Hill have already reacted to the budget. Here are a few initial reactions:
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the budget was a shift in the right direction after eight years of Democratic blueprints from the White House.
“We are determined to work with the administration to shrink the size of government, grow our economy, secure our borders, and ensure our troops have the tools necessary to complete their missions,” Ryan said.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York signaled that Democrats would fight the proposal tooth-and-nail.
“The very programs that most help the middle class are those that get clobbered the hardest: investments in infrastructure, education, scientific research that leads to cures for diseases all take big hits” Schumer said. “Democrats in Congress will emphatically oppose these cuts.”
Sen. John McCain said the “budget proposed today cannot pass the Senate” because the increase in defense does not go far enough.
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Comments
McCain – “more for war and for more wars”. What an idiot, what a closing comment.
I trust Trump not to piss away the defense spending badly as McCain surely would.
Just retire already John.
Trump has already negotiated better prices on the F-35 and the new Air Force 1. He has literally saved billions.
I cannot wait to see what he does with the Navy’s ship builders.
Try to take out an enemy stronghold with a NPR broadcast.
Just attempt to listen to a broadcast and you might change your mind.
I’m so pleased that Trump wants to end the “Energy Star” program. I had to spend $700 on a new sine-wave UPS for my computer because the “Energy Star” power supply in my computer wouldn’t work with the traditional square wave units. Another thing that irked me was the GFCIs which the electrical code requires in kitchens, baths, garages, and outdoors. The old ones had indicating lights that were illuminated when the unit was functioning. The EPA made the manufacturers change that protocol to lights that only came on when the unit was tripped. So now I have half my house with lights that are normally on and the other half with lights that are off. It’s absurd! The EPA thinks that burning 5mA on a LED is going to break the electrical grid or something. Then there are front-loading washing machines which require us old folks to get down on our hands and knees to load. We hate that. The list goes on and on…
Yep Energy star, when appropriate, is now a consumer driven phenomenon for most appliances. Why wouldn’t you want a dishwasher, refrigator, washer, or dryer that lowers your monthly power bills? It’s self-incentivized for the consumer.
Obama had Catastrophic Anthrogenic Global Warming and was a first-order cause of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Immigration Reform. The former is addressed through a separation of Pro-Choice and State. While the latter is addressed through confronting his man-made global humanitarian disasters.
I had fun listening to opponents list the possible consequences of these budget cuts – it sounded so much like a teenager creating their first budget, i.e. plenty of money for non-essentials and nothing left over for food, housing, transportation, etc.
Did anyone notice the budget did not cut Interest Expense?
BECAUSE THEY CAN’T.
So we need a math quiz. Multiply 20 trillion by 5% and compare you result with income taxes collected.
Actually, I’d prefer that he do less with less.
Enough with the fantasy that the function of government is to do more … and more … and more. Anything worth doing … is worth doing better than career government employees are likely to do it.
Chase off pirates, issue privateering commissions, fill potholes, keep airplanes from hitting each other, standardize weights and measures, issue commemorative stamps and coins, publish helpful pamphlets about farming, and put more old patents online. That’s all we really want from the Federal behemoth.
“…issue privateering commissions …”
A LOT of my old shipmates would sign-on for that in a hummingbird’s heartbeat! After a few pirate vessels were found adrift, shot to doll rags with all hands dead, it might just help some of those SOBs decide to go into another line of work. At the very least it would cut repeat piracy attempts significantly!