President Donald Trump will ask the US&nbsp;Congress for dramatic cuts to many federal programs as he seeks to bulk up defence spending, start building a wall on the border with Mexico and spend more money deporting illegal immigrants.

In a federal budget proposal with many losers, the Environmental Protection Agency and State Department stand out as targets for the biggest spending reductions. Funding would disappear altogether for 19 independent bodies that count on federal money for public broadcasting, the arts and regional issues from Alaska to Appalachia.

Trump&#39;s budget outline is a bare-bones plan covering just &quot;discretionary&quot; spending for the 2018 fiscal year starting on October 1. It is the first volley in what is expected to be an intense battle over spending in coming months in Congress, which holds the federal purse strings and seldom approves presidents&#39; budget plans.

Congress, controlled by Trump&#39;s fellow Republicans, may reject some or many of his proposed cuts. Some of the proposed changes, which Democrats will broadly oppose, have been targeted for decades by conservative Republicans.

Moderate Republicans have already expressed unease with potential cuts to popular domestic programs such as home-heating subsidies, clean-water projects and job training.

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<h5>The defence increases are matched by cuts to other programs so as to not increase the $488 billion federal deficit</h5>
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Trump is willing to discuss priorities, said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman who made a name for himself as a spending hawk before Trump plucked him for his Cabinet.

&quot;The president wants to spend more money on defence, more money securing the border, more money enforcing the laws, and more money on school choice, without adding to the deficit,&quot; Mulvaney told a small group of reporters during a preview on Wednesday.

&quot;If they have a different way to accomplish that, we are more than interested in talking to them,&quot; Mulvaney said.

Trump wants to spend $54 billion more on defence, put a down payment on his border wall, and breathe life into a few other campaign promises. His initial budget outline does not incorporate his promise to pour $1 trillion into roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure projects. The White House has said the infrastructure plan is still to come.

The defence increases are matched by cuts to other programs so as to not increase the $488 billion federal deficit. Mulvaney acknowledged the proposal would likely result in significant cuts to the federal workforce.

&quot;You can&rsquo;t drain the swamp and leave all the people in it,&quot; Mulvaney said.

&#39;America first&#39;

White House officials looked at Trump&#39;s campaign speeches and &quot;America First&quot; pledges as they crunched the numbers, Mulvaney said.

&quot;We turned those policies into numbers,&quot; he said, explaining how the document mirrored pledges to spend more on the US&nbsp;nuclear weapons arsenal, veterans&#39; health care, the FBI, and Justice Department efforts to fight drug dealers and violent crime.

The Department of Homeland Security would get a 6.8 per cent increase, with more money for extra staff needed to catch, detain and deport illegal immigrants.

Trump wants Congress to shell out $1.5 billion for the border wall with Mexico in the current fiscal year -- enough for pilot projects to determine the best way to build it -- and a further $2.6 billion in fiscal 2018, Mulvaney said.

The estimate of the full cost of the wall will be included in the full budget, expected in mid-May, which will project spending and revenues over 10 years.

Trump has vowed Mexico will pay for the border wall, which the Mexican government has flatly said it will not do. The White House has said recently that funding would be kick-started in the United States.

The voluminous budget document will include economic forecasts and Trump&#39;s views on &quot;mandatory entitlements&quot; -- big-ticket programs like Social Security and Medicare, which Trump vowed to protect on the campaign trail.

Biggest losers

Trump asked Congress to slash the EPA by $2.6 billion or more than 31 per cent, and the State Department by more than 28 per cent or $10.9 billion.

Mulvaney said the &quot;core functions&quot; of those agencies would be preserved. Hit hard would be foreign aid, grants to multilateral development agencies like the World Bank and climate change programs at the United Nations.

Trump wants to get rid of more than 50 EPA programs, end funding for former Democratic President Barack Obama&#39;s signature Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and cut renewable energy research programs at the Energy Department.

Regional programs to clean up the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay would be sent to the chopping block.

Community development grants at the Housing Department - around since 1974 - were cut in Trump&#39;s budget, along with more than 20 Education Department programs, including some funding program for before- and after- school programs.

Anti-poverty grants and a program that helps poor people pay their energy bills would be slashed, as well as a Labor Department program that helps low-income seniors find work.

Trump&#39;s rural base did not escape cuts. The White House proposed a 21 per cent reduction to the Agriculture Department, cutting loans and grants for wastewater, reducing staff in county offices and ending a popular program that helps US&nbsp;farmers donate crops for overseas food aid.

(Reuters)

Trump wants to slash the EPA's budget by 31%, the State Department's by more than 28%

President Donald Trump will ask the US Congress for dramatic cuts to many federal programs as he seeks to bulk up defence spending, start building a wall on the border with Mexico and spend more money deporting illegal immigrants. In a federal budget proposal with many losers, the Environmental Protection Agency and State Department stand out as targets for the biggest spending reductions. Funding would disappear altogether for 19 independent bodies that count on federal money for public broadcasting, the arts and regional issues from Alaska to Appalachia. Trump's budget outline is a bare-bones plan covering just "discretionary" spending for the 2018 fiscal year starting on October 1. It is the first volley in what is expected to be an intense battle over spending in coming months in Congress, which holds the federal purse strings and seldom approves presidents' budget plans. Congress, controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, may reject some or many of his proposed cuts. Some of the proposed changes, which Democrats will broadly oppose, have been targeted for decades by conservative Republicans. Moderate Republicans have already expressed unease with potential cuts to popular domestic programs such as home-heating subsidies, clean-water projects and job training. The defence increases are matched by cuts to other programs so as to not increase the $488 billion federal deficit × Trump is willing to discuss priorities, said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman who made a name for himself as a spending hawk before Trump plucked him for his Cabinet. "The president wants to spend more money on defence, more money securing the border, more money enforcing the laws, and more money on school choice, without adding to the deficit," Mulvaney told a small group of reporters during a preview on Wednesday. "If they have a different way to accomplish that, we are more than interested in talking to them," Mulvaney said. Trump wants to spend $54 billion more on defence, put a down payment on his border wall, and breathe life into a few other campaign promises. His initial budget outline does not incorporate his promise to pour $1 trillion into roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure projects. The White House has said the infrastructure plan is still to come. The defence increases are matched by cuts to other programs so as to not increase the $488 billion federal deficit. Mulvaney acknowledged the proposal would likely result in significant cuts to the federal workforce. "You can’t drain the swamp and leave all the people in it," Mulvaney said. 'America first' White House officials looked at Trump's campaign speeches and "America First" pledges as they crunched the numbers, Mulvaney said. "We turned those policies into numbers," he said, explaining how the document mirrored pledges to spend more on the US nuclear weapons arsenal, veterans' health care, the FBI, and Justice Department efforts to fight drug dealers and violent crime. The Department of Homeland Security would get a 6.8 per cent increase, with more money for extra staff needed to catch, detain and deport illegal immigrants. Trump wants Congress to shell out $1.5 billion for the border wall with Mexico in the current fiscal year -- enough for pilot projects to determine the best way to build it -- and a further $2.6 billion in fiscal 2018, Mulvaney said. The estimate of the full cost of the wall will be included in the full budget, expected in mid-May, which will project spending and revenues over 10 years. Trump has vowed Mexico will pay for the border wall, which the Mexican government has flatly said it will not do. The White House has said recently that funding would be kick-started in the United States. The voluminous budget document will include economic forecasts and Trump's views on "mandatory entitlements" -- big-ticket programs like Social Security and Medicare, which Trump vowed to protect on the campaign trail. Biggest losers Trump asked Congress to slash the EPA by $2.6 billion or more than 31 per cent, and the State Department by more than 28 per cent or $10.9 billion. Mulvaney said the "core functions" of those agencies would be preserved. Hit hard would be foreign aid, grants to multilateral development agencies like the World Bank and climate change programs at the United Nations. Trump wants to get rid of more than 50 EPA programs, end funding for former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and cut renewable energy research programs at the Energy Department. Regional programs to clean up the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay would be sent to the chopping block. Community development grants at the Housing Department - around since 1974 - were cut in Trump's budget, along with more than 20 Education Department programs, including some funding program for before- and after- school programs. Anti-poverty grants and a program that helps poor people pay their energy bills would be slashed, as well as a Labor Department program that helps low-income seniors find work. Trump's rural base did not escape cuts. The White House proposed a 21 per cent reduction to the Agriculture Department, cutting loans and grants for wastewater, reducing staff in county offices and ending a popular program that helps US farmers donate crops for overseas food aid. (Reuters)

In Trump's first budget proposal, military wins, environment & aid lose big

<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/finance/314991-trump-team-prepares-dramatic-cuts">The Hill has reported</a> that Trump&#39;s team is proposing more than $10 trillion in budget cuts over the next ten years.&nbsp;

The departments of Commerce and Energy would either see programs under their umbrella eliminated, transferred to other agencies or have their budget majorly reduced, The Hill reports. The Transportation, Justice and State departments would also see significant cuts or programs abolished.

A Trump administration would privatise the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and abolish both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowments for the Humanities, The Hill reports.

The proposed cuts adhere to a reported issued last year&nbsp;by the <a href="http://www.heritage.org/about">Heritage Foundation</a>, a conservative think tank working along&nbsp;the Trump transition&nbsp;team.

The Heritage Foundation describes their mission:&nbsp;&quot;To formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.&quot;

The Trump&nbsp;administration&#39;s full budget is expected to be released by mid- to late April. While it is vital in setting policy and providing a broad picture of their agenda, approval&nbsp;will be up to Congress. There is expected to be considerable blowback from some Republicans and Democrats.

<article about="/policy/finance/314991-trump-team-prepares-dramatic-cuts" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document">
 
The Hill reports that more proposed programs to eliminate&nbsp;at the Department of Justice include: The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services,&nbsp;Violence Against Women Grants and the Legal Services Corporation. Cuts or fund reductions would be in line for Civil Rights and its Environment and Natural Resouces division, The Hill Reports.

Meanwhile at the Department of Energy, nuclear physics and advanced scientific computing research would be reduced to 2008 levels, the Office of Electricity would be eliminated, as would the Office of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and the Office of Fossil Energy, which is aimed at decreasing carbon dioxide emissions, The Hill reports.

Some other candidates for programs up for elimination include: The Paris Climate Change Agreement and&nbsp;the United Nations&#39; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, The Hill reports.

Running the Energy Department under a Trump administration will be&nbsp;noted climate change denier and former governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who is replacing nuclear physicist, Ernest Moniz.

Earlier in December, a survey with 74 questions sent by the Trump transition team to the Energy Department sought to know the names of individual&nbsp;workers and contractors who had attended UN climate meetings, as well as the names of those who had attended meetings on the social cost of carbon, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-climatechange-idUSKBN1432JJ">Reuters reported</a>. The department refused to divulge this information.&nbsp;

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at the time that the questionnaire was not &quot;authorised&quot; and that the person who sent it had been &quot;properly counselled&quot;, but didn&#39;t explain what consequences they faced, or&nbsp;why a team member apparently took it upon himself to learn which civil servants were engaged in projects a Trump administration appears&nbsp;hostile towards.

A White House spokesman at the time, Josh Earnest, said the questionnaire &quot;could have been an attempt to target civil servants&quot;.

(WION)
</article>

Public broadcasting, the arts, the Paris Climate Change agreement, Violence Against Women grants and more may be cut or eliminated

The Hill has reported that Trump's team is proposing more than $10 trillion in budget cuts over the next ten years. The departments of Commerce and Energy would either see programs under their umbrella eliminated, transferred to other agencies or have their budget majorly reduced, The Hill reports. The Transportation, Justice and State departments would also see significant cuts or programs abolished. A Trump administration would privatise the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and abolish both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowments for the Humanities, The Hill reports. The proposed cuts adhere to a reported issued last year by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank working along the Trump transition team. The Heritage Foundation describes their mission: "To formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." The Trump administration's full budget is expected to be released by mid- to late April. While it is vital in setting policy and providing a broad picture of their agenda, approval will be up to Congress. There is expected to be considerable blowback from some Republicans and Democrats. The Hill reports that more proposed programs to eliminate at the Department of Justice include: The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Violence Against Women Grants and the Legal Services Corporation. Cuts or fund reductions would be in line for Civil Rights and its Environment and Natural Resouces division, The Hill Reports. Meanwhile at the Department of Energy, nuclear physics and advanced scientific computing research would be reduced to 2008 levels, the Office of Electricity would be eliminated, as would the Office of Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and the Office of Fossil Energy, which is aimed at decreasing carbon dioxide emissions, The Hill reports. Some other candidates for programs up for elimination include: The Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, The Hill reports. Running the Energy Department under a Trump administration will be noted climate change denier and former governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who is replacing nuclear physicist, Ernest Moniz. Earlier in December, a survey with 74 questions sent by the Trump transition team to the Energy Department sought to know the names of individual workers and contractors who had attended UN climate meetings, as well as the names of those who had attended meetings on the social cost of carbon, Reuters reported. The department refused to divulge this information. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at the time that the questionnaire was not "authorised" and that the person who sent it had been "properly counselled", but didn't explain what consequences they faced, or why a team member apparently took it upon himself to learn which civil servants were engaged in projects a Trump administration appears hostile towards. A White House spokesman at the time, Josh Earnest, said the questionnaire "could have been an attempt to target civil servants". (WION)

Donald Trump administration proposes more than $10 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years

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In Trump's first budget proposal, military wins, environment & aid lose big

Donald Trump administration proposes more than $10 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years