President Trump will send his 2020 budget to Congress Monday. It will require a five percent budget cut on all domestic spending through multiple federal government agencies.
White House Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow explained some of the details on Fox News Sunday:
According to the White House, as the federal debt ticks toward $23 trillion spending cuts and budget deficit reduction are top priorities.
“Look we're $22 trillion in debt. We have trillion dollar deficits that are far as the eye can see and we need to do something about it. This budget puts forward $2.7 trillion in spending reduction over the next ten years and balances within 15 years," Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russ Vought said.
"We think that's an important debate to have. Congress may resist it, but we also think that they have an interest in, we hope they have an interest in maintaining, in getting rid of the deficit. That's the conversation we want to have with them going forward,” he continued. “The interest spending that we’re currently doing, is a major problem. Within five years, we’re going to be spending more interest payments than we are on National defense.”
While domestic spending will see a cut in spending, defense spending in President Trump's budget has been increased by five percent.
“The budget proposed is a five percent increase in defense up to $750 billion. Previously this year it will be $716 billion. We think it's important to continue to rebuild the military from the years of the Obama administration,” Vought said.
The budget will also cut funding overseas. According to a senior White House official, President Trump is "tired" of paying for "professional cricket teams in Afghanistan" and defunct "NASA programs in Pakistan."
Funding for a border wall is also included, but will likely be completely rejected by the Democrat-controlled House.
“We do have an $8.6 billion request to Congress to complete the wall. This is in addition to the billions of dollars that we are securing through the President's declaration of a national emergency,” Vought said. “As you know, this is an area where we're getting tired of being right. The border situation is deteriorating by the day. When we started the conversation throughout last year, Democrats were saying there was no national emergency. They’re still saying that.”
President Trump will submit his budget to Congress today and it will likely be voted on in the coming weeks.
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