Trump Budget 2018 Proposal: Military Wins, Environment Loses

The Trump administration will release a preliminary 2018 budget proposal at 7 a.m. EDT Thursday, which will include the revised amounts allocated for the federal government’s spending.

Among the biggest gainers and losers from the budget revision are the Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who are set to gain 9 percent and lose 31 percent respectively. Here's how the Trump administration’s allocated budget will affect the two departments in the time to come, given the budget is passed.

Department of Defense:

Trump's proposal to allocate an extra $52 billion to the existing $587 billion defense budget is the highest ­single-year increase the department has seen. The administration has pledged to boost combat against the Islamic State group, form a stronger military and boost cyberwarfare capabilities.

The budget request comes after Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, criticized the president last month for not boosting defense spending enough. In a white paper released in January, McCain outlined his vision for $640 billion budget for 2018, with annual increases thereafter. He expressed anger over a mere 3 percent increase above former President Barack Obama’s defense budget proposal for 2018.

“Such a budget request would represent an increase of $18.5 billion above the level proposed by President Obama for fiscal year 2018,” he said in a statement. “In other words, President Trump intends to submit a defense budget that is a mere 3 percent above President Obama’s defense budget, which has left our military underfunded, undersized, and unready to confront threats to our national security.”

“With a world on fire, America cannot secure peace through strength with just 3 percent more than President Obama’s budget. We can and must do better,” McCain said in the statement Monday.

Since Trump was sworn in as president, the military has sent hundreds of troops to Syria and also launched a number of airstrikes and conducted ground raids in Yemen.

Environmental Protection Agency:

The budget proposal has slashed the EPA budget by a massive 31 percent — nearly a third — from the current $8.1 billion to $5.7 billion. It would cut 3,200 jobs, or more than 20 percent of the agency’s current workforce of about 15,000.

In the proposed form, the new budget would discontinue funding for Obama’s signature Clean Power Plan, designed to combat climate change by reducing emission of carbon dioxide from power plants.

Trump also aims to eliminate over 50 EPA programs with the Energy Star program, which aims to improve energy efficiency, and save consumers' money; discontinue funding for international climate change programs; cut funding for the Office of Research and Development in half; and also cut funding for the Superfund cleanup program and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance.

The plan to be released is a “skinny budget,” a first draft of the line-by-line appropriations request submitted by first-term administrations. A broader budget will be released later, which will include Trump’s proposals for taxation along with the bulk of government spending.

As for other losers in Trump's first budget blueprint, the proposal suggests a massive 20 percent, amounting to $6 billion, cut in the budget allocated for the National Institutes for Health (NIH), various media houses reported. Furthermore, the Department of Energy will also receive almost a 20 percent cut, meaning a reduction of $900 million to its budget allocation, from the total of $5 billion. The Department of Health and Human Services will also see a massive 18 percent cut.