Dems slam Trump’s new budget pitch

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s $4.8 trillion budget plan for the coming fiscal year drew a prompt rejection on Monday from congressional Democrats, who said it betrayed his promise to protect popular health and safety-net programmes.

The White House presented the budget as a blueprint for the president’s policy priorities. It includes funding to build a wall on the US border with Mexico and fight the opioid crisis, but cuts billions of dollars from safety net programs under the banner of welfare reform.

The budget is largely a political document that serves as a starting point for negotiations with Congress. With an eye toward reducing debt and deficits, Trump once again proposed steep cuts to housing, environmental, transportation and other programs that have been rejected by lawmakers in past years.

DEMOCRATS BRACE FOR VOLATILE PRIMARY

US Democrats braced for a volatile, consequential primary on Tuesday in New Hampshire as Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg fight for pole position in the race for who faces Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Tensions have risen steadily as notoriously independent-minded and astute voters, headed to polls across the northeastern battleground with just 1.3 million people - but plays a hugely influential role in the American political landscape.

New Hampshire hosts the nation’s first primary, eight days after Iowa kicked off the nomination process, and it could narrow the Democratic field of 11 current candidates.