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.
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