Trump says in the future, he'll be open to cutting defense costs


After boosting defense spending in every budget since 2017, President Trump on Tuesday said he thinks he'll soon be able to cut back.
"We now have a very strong military," he said during an interview with C-SPAN. "A lot stronger after this last budget. And then at some point very soon I'll be able to cut back. But we had to rebuild our military."
The House passed a budget last week that allocates $738 billion for defense, and the Senate is expected to vote on it this week. It adds to the already high national debt, but to Trump, it's all worth it because "the military is very close to being totally rebuilt."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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