Trump Budget Slashes Funding For Health Care & Education, Adds Money For Wall

President Donald Trump will request a six percent cut to nondefense spending as part of his $4.8 trillion budget proposal for 2021 on Monday. This will break a bipartisan spending agreement signed in August.

The request will include $740.5 billion in defense spending, and $590 billion for domestic spending. Domestic spending includes health, education, transportation, foreign policy and more.

This upset many Democrats and Republicans because it goes against overall spending figures made in a deal last summer. House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky said, “Just six short months ago, the President signed a bipartisan two-year budget deal into law but now, the President is apparently going back on his word.” 

“Instead, he is proposing deep cuts to critical programs that help American families and protect our economic and national security,” he added. 

The deal set a cap of  $626.5 billion for nondefense spending and made room for additional spending through an off-budget account. In response to the news of the president not sticking to the plan, a White House official said, “Our view is that these are ceilings, not floors.”

Congress is most likely to set aside the request. Like Trump’s previous budget proposals, the 2021 request will include huge cuts to major programs. His plan includes a 21 percent cut to the State Department and a 26 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The plan also includes an increase in the Veterans Affairs budget by 13 percent and NASA’s budget by 12 percent. The proposal also depicts a 15-year plan to eliminate the national deficit, which is expected to reach over $1 trillion in 2020 for the first time since 2012.