Lawmakers are debating President Trump’s proposed budget.
News13 Washington Correspondent Mark Meredith looked at the president’s budget.
President Trump’s $4.7 trillion budget calls for cuts to domestic programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and sharp increases in defense spending.
Russ Vought is the White House’s Acting Budget Director.
He says the proposal also includes an extra $8 billion for a border wall and nearly $4 billion to pay back money snatched from military construction projects as part of the president’s national emergency.
“We’re taking steps with the national emergency to find pots of money to be used towards the wall. We also think it’s necessary to backfill some of those accounts,” said Vought.
Congressional Democrats say much of the budget, including the wall request, will simply fail in congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the president to revisit recent history.
Pelosi wrote “Congress refused to fund his wall and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again.”
But, the White House says border security is just a small fraction of the budget, which aims to cut about $1 trillon from domestic programs over the next 10 years, including welfare.
“This budget expands on the concept of work requirements, applies them to food stamps, applies them to housing, applies them to medicaid,” said Vought.
Congress will begin hearings on the president’s budget requests this week.
