Donovan Slack

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Trump has signed off on top-line numbers in a budget outline that seeks to make good on his campaign promises by hiking military spending by 10% and offsetting the cost with deep cuts to other agencies across the federal government.

"This budget will be a public safety and national security budget, very much based on those two with plenty of other things but very strong," Trump said Monday. "And it will include a historic increase in defense spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of America at a time we most need it."

He said he will lay out more detail during a prime-time address to Congress Tuesday.

"This defense spending increase will be offset and paid for by finding greater savings and efficiencies across the federal government," Trump said. "We're going to do more with less."

The White House said the budget outline includes a $54 billion increase in defense spending and an equivalent cut in non-defense, discretionary spending. That would mean the current discretionary budget of $1.064 trillion would remain unchanged.

As part of the proposed cuts, which would affect nearly every agency, the administration will seek to decrease foreign aid, something the president referenced Monday morning during a meeting with governors at the White House. Trump said the budget "puts America first by keeping tax dollars in America."

It also includes investments in law enforcement and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We can do so much more with the money we spend," Trump said. "With $20 trillion in debt, can you imagine that, the government must learn to tighten its belt, something families all across the country have had to learn to do unfortunately."

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The White House sent the approved top-line numbers Monday to individual agencies, which will be tasked with filling in the details of where cuts and increases would be made before the White House finalizes the budget proposal and sends it to Congress in the coming weeks. Congress would then be responsible for debating and passing spending bills, on which Trump would have the final sign-off.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, wasn't waiting to hear more details. He said Monday that Trump's proposed cuts — roughly 10% of non-defense, discretionary spending — would take "a meat ax to programs that benefit the middle class.”

“A cut this steep almost certainly means cuts to agencies that protect consumers from Wall Street excess and protect clean air and water," Schumer said in a statement Monday.

“This budget proposal is a reflection of exactly who this president is and what today’s Republican Party believes in: helping the wealthy and special interests while putting further burdens on the middle class and those struggling to get there.”

Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the budget outline numbers do not take into account revenue projections from promised tax cuts or added spending on infrastructure. Nor does it rely on any financial impact from a repeal-and-replace of the Affordable Care Act. He said those items would be included in a "full-blown" budget proposal that would be submitted to Congress in May.

In the meantime, he said the so-called "skinny budget" that will go to Congress in March is a reflection of Trump's promises on the campaign trail.

"It is a true America-first budget," Mulvaney said. "It will show the president’s keeping his promises and doing exactly what he said he was going to do when he ran for office."

Overall, defense spending would increase to $603 billion annually, while spending on non-defense programs would drop to $462 billion. The amounts do not include non-discretionary spending — mandatory outlays to pay for entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Among non-defense agencies whose funding could be on the chopping block are the departments of Agriculture, Education, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and State.

More than 20 agencies provide aid to help other countries with everything from improving education and health to security. In 2017, the U.S. government had planned to distribute a total of $36.5 billion, including $3.1 billion to Israel. Even if that budget was zeroed out, a significant amount would have to come from domestic programs to which Americans have become accustomed.

"This is beyond (cutting) waste, fraud and abuse, this is cutting off a right leg and a right arm," said Stan Collender, an analyst at Qorvis MSLGROUP and author of The Guide to the Federal Budget. "I mean you're talking about material changes in the way a department operates... this is not only not insignificant, this would be the most significant cut in domestic spending maybe ever."

Contributing: David Jackson

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