Trump budget plan already outdated

In a twist on Washington’s truism about presidential budgets being obsolete on arrival, President Donald Trump’s 2019 fiscal plan due Monday is dead before it gets there.

The original plan was for Trump’s new budget to slash domestic agencies even further than last year’s proposal, but instead it will land in Congress three days after he signed a twoyear budget agreement that wholly rewrites both plans.

Trump’s Monday submission was completed before the budget pact delivered the nearly $300 billion increase above prior “caps” on spending. The 2019 budget was designed to double down on last year’s proposals to slash foreign aid, the Environmental Protection Agency, home heating assistance and other nondefense programs funded by Congress each year.

Trump would again spare Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare, but there’s no interest in tackling hot-button health issues during an election year. — The Associated Press