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Trump Seeks "Historic" $54 Billion Increase To Defense Spending

As observed earlier in the day, as part of the leaked preliminary Trump budget, the president was set to unveil major spending increases for US defense offset by cuts to federal agencies, and other non-defense sectors. And on Monday morning, the first details emerged, including that the boost to defense spending is expected to be about 10%, or some $54 billion, and will be revenue neutral, offset by cuts in non-defense areas, and will not "add a dime to the deficit." As Trump said, he is seeking a "historic increase" in military spending.

Iran Conducts Massive Naval Drill Amid Tensions With US

Iran has staged a large scale military drill over a 2 million sq. kilometre area along the country’s southeastern coast. The final phase of operation “Velayat-e 95” began Sunday, with Iranian naval forces staging war games from the mouth of the Persian Gulf to the north of the Indian Ocean. It comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has put Iran “on notice” by telling the Islamic Republic to stop “playing with fire,” while U.S. naval deployment has been concentrated more on dealing with China.

Trump Seeks Sharp Increases In Military Spending, "Drastic Cuts" To State Department, EPA

As part of his proposed budget, President Trump will instruct federal agencies on Monday to assemble a spending plan for the coming fiscal year that includes sharp increases in Defense Department spending and "drastic cuts" to domestic agencies such as the State Department, the EPA and other non-defense programs, so that he can keep his promise to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, according to four senior administration officials cited by the NYT. 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.

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