Trump to Ask for Sharp Increases in Military Spending, Officials Say

The following article by Glenn Thrush, Kate Kelly and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website February 26, 2017:

President Trump with the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, left, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, at the White House last week. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump will instruct federal agencies on Monday to assemble a budget for the coming fiscal year that includes sharp increases in Defense Department spending and drastic enough cuts to domestic agencies that he can keep his promise to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, according to four senior administration officials.

The budget outline will be the first move in a campaign this week to reset the narrative of Mr. Trump’s turmoil-tossed White House.

A day before delivering a high-stakes address on Tuesday to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Trump will demand a budget with tens of billions of dollars in reductions to the Environmental Protection Agency and State Department, according to four senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the plan. Social safety net programs, aside from the big entitlement programs for retirees, would also be hit hard. Continue reading “Trump to Ask for Sharp Increases in Military Spending, Officials Say”