President’s budget will fail to clear deficit within decade

DONALD TRUMP yesterday unveiled a budget that would send the US deficit soaring to almost $1trillion and fail to balance the books in 10 years.

In a major departure from traditional Republican thinking, the US president outlined a government spending spree that would drive up the national debt.

His $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan would see $200 billion of central government spending to trigger state and private sector investment. The budget also proposed $17 billion for tackling the opioids crisis, $23billion for border security and $686billion for the Pentagon – a 13 per cent rise.

Mr Trump’s budget is only advisory because it is up to Congress, not the White House, to decide spending.

This 2019 budget is especially unlikely to be acted upon because Congress approved a two-year budget just last week. Forecasts contained in Mr Trump’s budget show the country’s total deficit jumping from $665 billion in 2017 to $984billion in 2019. They also show America will still have a deficit in 2028, despite Republicans saying they hoped to balance the books by then. Mr Trump told a White House gathering his infrastructure

‘Washington will no longer be a roadblock to progress. Washington will now be your partner’

plan would make planning permission quicker to obtain, ensuring more investment in rural areas. “Washington will no longer be a roadblock to progress. Washington will now be your partner,” the president said. Business: Page 1