New Delhi:
President Donald Trump's first glance of his first much talked about 'America First' budget is pretty much on expected lines with massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department. The budget is expected to slash smaller but well-known programs like Amtrak and community grants, while increasing defense spending and immigration enforcement, according to a report by the New York Times's Glenn Thrush and Coral Davenport.
This is in synch with the reporting from the end of February, when news of deep cuts to EPA and State and a major increase in defense spending was first leaked. At that time, budget director Mick Mulvaney publicly stated there would be a $54 billion defense hike and hinted that major cuts to State and to foreign aid spending were forthcoming.
The defense hike is really more like $18 billion when compared with Obama’s last budget, which has raised the ire of defense hawks such as Sen. John McCain who are demanding still more funding.
But Thrush and Davenport and other reporters are now offering more details about the budget outline to come, including some deep cuts
The EPA's budget would fall from $8.2 billion down to $5.7 billion under Trump’s plan, a 31 percent cut that would put funding at "its lowest level in 40 years, adjusted for inflation.” This is reportedly against the requests of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, no fan of the agency before taking office — who requested a $7 billion budget.
The State Department would be cut between 28 percent and 31 percent. Originally Trump wanted cuts of 37 percent but faced resistance from Congress and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
