U.S. under Trump Series: Key highlights from Trump’s 2019 budget proposal

The White House has unveiled President Trump’s budget proposal on Monday, which widely dubbed as Trump and his allies as an American budget. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said the proposal reflects the Trump administration’s commitment to the “safety, prosperity, and security of the American people. Here are some key highlights from that proposal,

• It lists a total of $4.338 trillion in government outlays in the fiscal year 2019. It also projects annual outlays for the next decade, ending at $7 trillion in 2028.

The Military:

• The proposal funds Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which is estimated to cost $1.4 trillion over its lifetime.
• The 2019 budget proposal envisions $617 billion baseline Pentagon funding, with another $60 billion for overseas contingency operations, better known as the warfighting slush fund. Additional military spending, including nuclear programs run by the Department of Energy, would bring the total request to $716 billion.
• The request includes a request of $24 billion to modernize America’s nuclear arsenal and nuclear triad capabilities that is air, land and sea-based strategic arsenal.
• The budget also provides funding for 10 new navy ships including three destroyers and two Virginia-class attack submarines. It provides funds for 77 new F-35s, 24 new F/A-18 Super Hornets, and modernization of existing F-16 jets.  

Border Security and ‘The Wall’:

• The proposal provides funding of $1.6 billion for Customs and Border Protection Agency’s (CBP) enforcement efforts.
• $571 million for 2000 new recruits at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• $253 million for CBP's National Targeting Center (NTC) and biometric programs, aimed at vetting visitors and immigrants before they arrive in the U.S.
• Over $2.5 billion to fund the construction and maintenance of detention facilities for illegal immigrants across the U.S.
• Another $80 million would pay for 75 new immigration judge teams and 338 new prosecuting attorneys at the ICE, so they can deal with the backlog of 650,000 cases currently pending in the immigration courts.
• The total $18 billion proposal also provides funding for ‘The Wall’.

Infrastructure:

• As part of President Trump’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure package, the budget proposes $200 billion for direct Federal funding to state and local government with an aim to attract private investments.
• Among that $50 billion would go to rural projects, including broadband internet construction.

Opioid crisis:

• The budget proposes $13 billion new funding over the next two years would be dedicated to battling the opioid epidemic.

Package for diplomacy:

• The budget proposes $25.8 billion funding for the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is 26 percent less than 2017.
• The Department of the Treasury international programs would be funded to the tune of $1.4 billion, which is 20 percent less compared to 2017.
• The proposal requests $12 billion for overseas contingency operations in places like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, making it an almost $200 million increase over the 2018 budget.

NASA:

• The proposal increases funding to NASA to $19.6 billion compared to 2018, but still less than 2017.
• The budget proposes to end direct US government funding for the International Space Station (ISS) by 2025 and “provides $150 million to begin a program that would encourage commercial development of capabilities that NASA can use in its place.”

The proposal, however, is unlikely to pass in its original form and likely to lead to a fierce battle between the Republicans and the Democrats at the House and the Senate.