Trump's $4.8 trillion budget would cut domestic safety net, hike military spending

(Image credit: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

published 10 February 2020

President Trump will unveil his fiscal 2021 budget blueprint on Monday, and the $4.8 trillion proposal would boost military spending while sharply cutting most other domestic agencies, foreign aid, and social safety-net programs, according to summary tables and unidentified administration officials. The budget forecasts a drop in the federal budget deficit from $1.08 trillion this year to $966 billion in fiscal 2021 and $261 billion in 2030, but those numbers are based on rosy economic forecasts and steep domestic cuts almost certain to die in Congress.

Trump's budget leaves Medicare and Social Security benefits largely untouched, but it takes $700 billion out of Medicaid over 10 years, proposes cuts to food stamps, farm subsides, and student loan programs, and nibbles at Social Security disability benefits and Medicare provider payments. Those domestic cuts "couldn't pass when Republicans controlled Congress, much less now with liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) setting the agenda," The Associated Press notes, and Congress sets the spending levels.

Trump proposes $1 trillion in infrastructure spending over 10 years and seeks to move the Secret Service to the Treasury Department from the Department of Homeland Security. Overall, the budget proposes $740.5 billion in military spending and $590 billion in domestic spending, ripping up a budget deal worked out with Congress in December. "Once again the president is showing just how little he values the good health, financial security, and well-being of hard-working American families," Pelosi said Sunday night. "Year after year, President Trump's budgets have sought to inflict devastating cuts to critical lifelines that millions of Americans rely on."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.