Trump orders $54bn splurge on defence
DONALD Trump is ordering a $54bn (€51bn) surge in defence spending at the expense of environmental and foreign aid agencies as he tries to make good on the populist programme that propelled him to the White House.
The budget outlines were being sent to departments yesterday and offer a chance to define the new president’s priorities after a first month in which he has been bold on rhetoric but weak on detail.
He has a further opportunity to reset his presidency after a chaotic first month with a speech to a joint session of Congress tonight.
During a meeting with state governors at the White House, Mr Trump described the blueprint as a budget for public safety and national security.
“It will include an historic increase in defence spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of America at a time we most need it,” he said.
Although full details of the draft budget have not yet been made public, an official from the Office of Management and Budget briefed reporters that it included an almost 10pc increase on the $600bn defence budget. It will leave expensive federal welfare programmes such as Social Security and Medicare in place, despite Republican calls for reform.
Instead the money will be found from a significant reduction in foreign aid along with cuts at most domestic agencies, the official said. Earlier reports suggested the Environment Protection Agency would bear the brunt. That sets up a showdown with Democratic opponents in Congress and the possibility of a government shutdown.
Agencies will have the chance to negotiate changes before the 2018 budget is published next month. Critics question whether there is any need for a big increase in Pentagon spending. Mr Trump made rebuilding the armed forces a central part of his campaign. On the stump, he called for 90,000 more soldiers, 100 more air force jets and a 350-ship Navy (an increase on the current 274).
An official told Reuters the request for the Pentagon included more money for shipbuilding, military aircraft and “a more robust presence in key international waterways and choke-points” such as the Strait of Hormuz and South China Sea. At the same time, administration figures said federal benefits were safe from cuts, in keeping with Mr Trump’s campaign promises to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
George W Bush, the former president, took a swipe at Mr Trump yesterday, saying “we all need answers” on the extent of contact between his team and the Russian government.
In an interview with NBC’s Today show he also defended the media’s role in keeping world leaders in check, noting that “power can be addictive”, and warned against immigration policies that could alienate Muslims. “I am for an immigra- tion policy that’s welcoming and upholds the law,” Mr Bush told NBC’s ‘Today’ show.
Mr Bush’s comments came after a prominent Republican in Congress, Darrell Issa of California, called for a special prosecutor to investigate whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and was in touch with Trump’s top advisers during the campaign. Earlier, Mr Trump warned that the nation’s health care system was in danger of imploding and said Congress must make fundamental changes to the sweeping health law passed by his predecessor.
He said at a White House meeting with dozens of governors that he hoped to overhaul the American tax system, but that was a “tiny little ant” compared to what he would need to do to remake the so-called Obamacare law.
The president’s first major meeting with governors came as Congress prepares to move forward on a repeal and replacement of the health care law, one of Mr Trump’s main campaign promises.
Governors have raised concerns that the changes could undermine their efforts to expand Medicaid in their states and leave them stuck with ballooning payments.
Mr Trump met later with health insurance executives, some of whom are worried that the uncertainty over the health care law’s future is spilling into the marketplace.
Without offering specific details about what he wants in a replacement package, Mr Trump said the current health insurance market is “going to absolutely implode” and called on the executives to work with the government on a way forward. “We must work together to save Americans from Obamacare,” he said. (© Daily Telegraph London)