President Donald Trump has released his "America First" budget, and it makes dramatic cuts to the federal government while adding $54 billion in defense spending.
"If [Trump] said it on the campaign, it’s in the budget," Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said in statement.
But many of the proposed changes were met with rebuke before even being announced. "It's dead on arrival," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said last month, objecting to the then-rumored cuts in State Department funding. The president's budget is a blueprint — Congress has ultimate control.
See the full scope of Trump's budget proposal below.
Overview of Changes in Trump's Budget
Biggest Winners in the Trump Budget
Mulvaney described the mix of cuts and increases as a "hard power budget" in a briefing with reporters. The biggest winners are focused on defense and national security, consistent with Trump's promise to restore "law and order" and take a more aggressive posture towards terrorism.
Biggest Losers in the Trump Budget
Almost every federal agency and department loses in Trump's budget, but the EPA is hit hardest. However, the proposal also entirely eliminates funding for dozens of smaller agencies and programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts, money for public broadcasting, programs to combat climate change and assistance for low-income Americans, including the Meals on Wheels program.
Independent Agencies Eliminated
In addition to the major agency reductions shown in the bar charts above, the budget recommends eliminating funding for 19 independent agencies. The cost of those agencies is shown below relative to two of Trump's signature initiatives that receive increases in funding.