Trump budget proposal eyes trillions of cuts, boost for defence
US President Donald Trump has delivered his budget proposal to Congress, showing trillions of dollars of cuts to federal spending, including to healthcare and food assistance programs.
Trump is currently on an overseas trip to the Middle East, but it has not stopped the budget proposal moving to US lawmakers.
The budget recommends that Congress spend $4.1trn in the next year, slightly more than the current public spending bill, while reducing spending by federal bodies by as much as $3.6trn over the next 10 years.
Over $800bn is expected to be saved from cuts to Medicaid, part of Trump's predecessor Barack Obama's healthcare program. More than $192bn will be cut from the food stamps program.
Over $800bn is expected to be saved from cuts to Medicaid
In exchange the administration will beef up its spending on areas such as defence, border security and infrastructure.
Specifically, Trump's budget would lift the spending cap on defence and pump a further $54bn into the department in 2018.
A figure of $2.6bn for the same period would be allocated towards border security, the majority of which is expected to go towards the wall the President campaigned on during last year’s election.
The budget relies to a great extent on an optimistic forecast of US economic growth climbing to 3.0% thanks to the administration’s policies such as tax cuts and looser regulation.
Trump has been busy conducting a tour of several Middle Eastern countries in the last few days, including the announcement of billions of dollars worth of deals between US companies and Saudi Arabian counterparts.