Washington:
US President Donald Trump on Thursday proposed a USD 1.1 trillion budget, requesting a massive USD 54 billion increase in defence spending and a substantial cut in the State Department allocations particularly foreign aid, which is likely to have an impact on recipients like Pakistan.
“There is no question that it is a hard power budget. This is not a soft power budget. And that was done intentionally. The President very clearly wants to send a message to our allies and our potential adversaries that this is a strong power administration,” Director of the Office of Management of Budget Mick Mulvaney told reporters ahead of the rolling of the annual budget.
“So we have seen money move from soft power program such a foreign aid to more hard power programs. That’s allies can expect. That’s adversaries can expect,” Mulvaney said.
The USD 54 billion increase in US defense spending is more than India’s annual defense budget.
In his communication to the US Congress this morning, Trump said his budgetary request includes an additional USD 30 billion for the Department of Defence (DOD) to rebuild the US Armed Forces and accelerate the campaign to defeat the ISIS, and an additional USD 3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for urgent border protection activities.
This also requests USD 24.9 billion in the DOD base budget for urgent warfighting readiness needs and to begin a sustained effort to rebuild the US Armed Forces.
The request seeks to address critical budget shortfalls in personnel, training, maintenance, equipment, munitions, modernisation, and infrastructure investment.
It represents a critical first step in investing in a larger, more ready, and more capable military force, he said.
Trump said the request also includes USD 5.1 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operations budget for DOD to accelerate the campaign to defeat ISIS and support Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan.
This request would enable DOD to pursue a comprehensive strategy to end the threat ISIS poses to the US, he said.
Trump has suggested an additional USD?three billion for DHS implementation of his executive orders on border security and immigration enforcement.
“The request would fund efforts to plan, design, and construct a physical wall along the southern border, and make other critical investments in tactical border infrastructure and technology. The request also proposes funding to increase immigration detention capacity, which is necessary to ensure the removal of illegal aliens from the US,” Trump said.
Mulvaney said the budget proposes to cut the State Department’s foreign aid programme by massive 28 per cent.
