DEEP CUTS

Trump’s $4.8 Trillion Budget Would Cut Safety Net Programs, Increase Military and Border Funds

The plan, unlikely to be approved by the Democratic-controlled house, includes deep cuts to environmental protection, Medicaid, and student loan assistance.

President Trump proposed a $4.8 trillion budget plan on Monday that includes deep cuts to environmental protection, student loan assistance, affordable housing efforts, and food stamps, while providing additional funding for the military and the construction of a wall on the southern U.S. border. The proposal, reportedly part of Trump’s election-year effort to reduce social-safety-net programs, is unlikely to become law as Congress must approve the plan and Democrats control the House. “We’re doing a lot of things that are good including waste and fraud. Tremendous waste and tremendous fraud,” Trump said Monday. The proposal includes increased spending for national defense, border enforcement, Trump’s Space Force initiative, and an extension of the individual income tax cuts enacted in 2017 that were set to expire in 2025. Trump proposes to cut spending by $4.4 trillion over a decade, including $2 trillion in savings from mandatory spending programs. The administration also seeks to cut 26 percent of funding for the Environmental Protection Agency along with the elimination of 50 programs Trump deemed “wasteful.”