Trump seeks 'historic' increase of 9 percent in U.S. military's budget

[webfact]

Trump seeks 'historic' increase of 9 percent in U.S. military's budget

By Steve Holland

REUTERS

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Governors Association meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 27, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is seeking what he called a "historic" 9 percent increase in military spending, even as the United States has wound down major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and remains the world's strongest military power.

 

Trump will ask Congress to boost Pentagon spending in the next fiscal year by $54 billion in his first budget proposal and slash the same amount from non-defence spending, including a large reduction in foreign aid, a White House budget official said on Monday.

 

The president does not have the final say on federal spending. His plan for the military is part of a budget proposal to Congress, which although it is controlled by his fellow Republicans, will not necessarily follow his plans. Budget negotiations with lawmakers can take months to play out.

 

Trump told state governors at the White House that his budget plan included a "historic increase in defence spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States of America."

 

"This is a landmark event and message to the world in these dangerous times, of American strength, security and resolve. We must ensure that our courageous servicemen and women have the tools they need to deter war and when called upon to fight in our name, only do one thing: Win," he said.

 

Officials familiar with Trump's budget blueprint said the defence increase would be financed partly by cuts to the State Department, Environmental Protection Agency and other non-defence programs.

 

“We’re going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable to the people," Trump said.

 

Trump's budget will not seek cuts in federal social programs such as Social Security and Medicare, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday.

 

Such a military spending hike would be unusual given that the United States is not engaged in a major war, although its special forces and Air Force are active against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

 

An official familiar with the proposal said Trump's request for the Pentagon included more money for shipbuilding, military aircraft and establishing "a more robust presence in key international waterways and choke points" such as the Strait of Hormuz and South China Sea.

 

That could put Washington at odds with Iran and China. The United States already has the world's most powerful fighting force and it spends far more than any other country on defence.

 

Defence spending in the most recent fiscal year was $584 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, so Trump's planned $54 billion increase would be a rise of 9.2 percent. About one-sixth of the federal budget goes to military spending.

 

LARGE BUILDUP

 

Mark Cancian, an adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said Trump's plan was in line with the kind of military spending seen before the Iraq war.

 

"This is certainly comparable to the largest peacetime buildups, which would be 2003," said Cancian, who worked at the Office of Management and Budget and the Defence Department. He cautioned that the proposal was far from being a budget. "This is just giving everyone the top line."

 

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said Trump’s plan to slash funding for federal agencies to free up money for the Pentagon showed he was not putting American working families first.

 

“A $54 billion cut will do far-reaching and long-lasting damage to our ability to meet the needs of the American people and win the jobs of the future,” Pelosi said. “The president is surrendering America’s leadership in innovation, education, science and clean energy."

 

In a speech to conservative activists on Friday, Trump promised "one of the greatest military buildups in American history."

 

A second official said the State Department's budget could be cut by as much as 30 percent, which would force a major restructuring of the department and elimination of programs.

 

The United States spends about $50 billion annually on the State Department and foreign assistance.

 

More than 120 retired U.S. generals and admirals urged Congress on Monday to fully fund U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid, saying that "elevating and strengthening diplomacy and development alongside defence are critical to keeping America safe."

 

Trump has said previously he would expand the Army to 540,000 active-duty troops from its current 480,000, increase the Marine Corps to 36 battalions from 23 – or as many as 10,000 more Marines – boost the Navy to 350 ships and submarines from 276, and raise the number of Air Force tactical aircraft to 1,200 from 1,100.

 

He has not said where he would place the extra hardware and forces or made clear what they would be used for. The United States has been shutting some of its military bases in recent years.

 

Trump has also said he would bolster the development of missile defences and cyber capabilities. Last week, he told Reuters the United States had "fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity." He pledged to ensure that "we're going to be at the top of the pack."

 

Trump also said on Monday he would talk about his plans for infrastructure spending in a speech to Congress on Tuesday. "We're going to start spending on infrastructure big," he said.

 

(Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann, Doina Chiacu, Andy Sullivan, Idrees Ali and David Alexander; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-28

[Emster23]

Thank goodness that war monger Hillary didn't win election (sarcasm)

[boomerangutang]

             Trump doesn't know the value of money.  He's never done any real work in his life.  He started out looking in classified sections of newspapers - in order to buy run-down buildings, and then kick out the low-income residents, fix up the buildings for high-income people from China and elsewhere. 100% of that was done with either his daddy's money, with bank money or investors'.  More often than not he bilked banks and investors.  That's been Trump's entire professional career.  100% with other peoples' money, and usually ripping-off lenders and avoiding paying contractors.

 

        Now he's gearing up to bankrupt the US.   Thanks, Trump voters.  

[rijb]

9 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

             Trump doesn't know the value of money.  He's never done any real work in his life.  He started out looking in classified sections of newspapers - in order to buy run-down buildings, and then kick out the low-income residents, fix up the buildings for high-income people from China and elsewhere. 100% of that was done with either his daddy's money, with bank money or investors'.  More often than not he bilked banks and investors.  That's been Trump's entire professional career.  100% with other peoples' money, and usually ripping-off lenders and avoiding paying contractors.

 

        Now he's gearing up to bankrupt the US.   Thanks, Trump voters.  

By your logic, Trump will probably get the countries he invades to pay for their own invasion.  

[kamahele]

If our military truly needs the increase, fine. However there is no way he can pay for the increase without increasing the deficit.  He is going to reduce taxes on the rich so the government will have less income and while he will slash the budgets of other government agencies and perhaps completely gut some, he will still increase government debt. Way to go deficit hawks!

[boomerangutang]

3 minutes ago, rijb said:

By your logic, Trump will probably get the countries he invades to pay for their own invasion.  

                   That's cute.  But thus far, Trump hasn't gotten any country to pay for anything.  He can wave his hands around and shout at his fans from the pulpit, and they lap it up like Hitler's fans lapped up Hitler's swaggering BS, but that won't get Mexico to pay one peso for the wall which won't work.  Trump's wall, if built, will be viewed as the Edsel of Walls, years later.  It's already been laughed at, and will continue to be the bastion of jokes for decades, .....except it's a 33 billion dollar joke - not dissimilar to the 54 billion dollar overspending-on-weapons joke Trump is now wanting to dump on American taxpayers.  Note:  Trump isn't a taxpayer.

 

                      Humpty Dumpty Trump is a disaster for America.  Russia and China like Trump because he will debilitate the US.  

[jerojero]

How many more nuclear weapons does the USA need? Have enough already to kill everything on Earth twice over! Trump is an idiot.

[rijb]

10 minutes ago, jerojero said:

How many more nuclear weapons does the USA need? Have enough already to kill everything on Earth twice over! Trump is an idiot.

 

Maybe it's a bluff.  The nuke program is highly classified.  The bad guys can't verify nuke inventory.

[Berkshire]

This is just one of many ways that Trump is destroying America.  The US already spends way more than any other country on defense and has by far the strongest military in the history of mankind.  And Trump wants to spend even more?  To do what?  Start more wars?  And of course, this money has to come from somewhere.  So senseless.  Another example of the stupidity of Trump.

[JingerBen]

8 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

This is just one of many ways that Trump is destroying America.  The US already spends way more than any other country on defense and has by far the strongest military in the history of mankind.  And Trump wants to spend even more?  To do what?  Start more wars?  And of course, this money has to come from somewhere.  So senseless.  Another example of the stupidity of Trump.

It's not just the stupidity of Trump - it's the stupidity of those who voted him into office.

Although it could be argued that Hillary Clinton and the interests that she represents was a far worse alternative.

The recent election was a classic no-win situation for the American people and for the world.

[boomerangutang]

1 hour ago, JingerBen said:

It's not just the stupidity of Trump - it's the stupidity of those who voted him into office.

Although it could be argued that Hillary Clinton and the interests that she represents was a far worse alternative. The recent election was a classic no-win situation for the American people and for the world.

Your opening sentence was on the mark.  No need to bash Hillary.  She's not perfect, but she's miles better than Trump.  Trump is to governance what a cat is to a cat litter box, when it shits all over the house.

[louse1953]

3 hours ago, Emster23 said:

Thank goodness that war monger Hillary didn't win election (sarcasm)

Now all he needs is a big war to use all these toys.As usual the taxpayer gets screwed over as the middle class and poor pay and then their kids go and fight in some foreign land.Trumpy says "we have to start winning wars" so it better be somewhere like Grenada or Panama.You know,countries that don't fight back.And if they do the finger will be on the N button.

[louse1953]

3 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

             Trump doesn't know the value of money.  He's never done any real work in his life.  He started out looking in classified sections of newspapers - in order to buy run-down buildings, and then kick out the low-income residents, fix up the buildings for high-income people from China and elsewhere. 100% of that was done with either his daddy's money, with bank money or investors'.  More often than not he bilked banks and investors.  That's been Trump's entire professional career.  100% with other peoples' money, and usually ripping-off lenders and avoiding paying contractors.

 

        Now he's gearing up to bankrupt the US.   Thanks, Trump voters.  

That's how the big boys do it,other peoples money,never their own.

[Prbkk]

I'm sure he will think up ways to save on the military budget, eg Ivanka might give a discount for a contract to design and manufacture the uniforms ( made in China, of course).

[Jingthing]

He wants a war. He will get a war. Internal and/or external. That's what authoritarian demagogues always do. 

[Andaman Al]

1 hour ago, JingerBen said:

 

Although it could be argued that Hillary Clinton and the interests that she represents was a far worse alternative.

 

So please explain, what is the argument that Hillary Clintons interests would have been a worse alternative than Trump. What was Clinton allegedly planning to do that would have been worse than this cluster that we see opening up in front of our eyes now?

[Rob13]

Meanwhile the country's infrastructure is  falling apart.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Rob13

[booji]

Thank goodness that war monger Hillary didn't win election (sarcasm)

but her emails


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, Rob13 said:

Meanwhile the country's infrastructure is  falling apart.

Good point. Didn't he PROMISE a huge jobs infrastructure rebuilding program which is something that actually enjoys bipartisan support? Where's the bill? Where is that in the BUDGET? So far, trump is basically HOT AIR. No jobs bill. No rebuild infrastructure bill. Basically executive orders that don't do much. Remember Obama's close Guatmo executive order? Turns out you need more than executive orders to actually DO stuff. 

Getting real, of course it was obvious for anyone paying attention that trump is a massive CON MAN but the details of how his BIG CON is actually revealed ... that's his presidency. 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Jingthing

[Andaman Al]

22 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

I'm sure he will think up ways to save on the military budget, eg Ivanka might give a discount for a contract to design and manufacture the uniforms ( made in China, of course).

The new Ivanka line of body armour - fits to the curves, keeps you looking your best all day long even when under enemy fire.

 

Ivanka's co-ordinated camouflage scheme for those who want to not stand out in the crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Ivanka diamonte gold plated dog tags for the bling when there is a bang.

 

 

Not forgetting the extra 10 000 Marines that Donald wants in the Military! He apparently would like to tie this in with his Miss Universe franchise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Andaman Al

[Rob13]

13 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Good point. Didn't he PROMISE a huge jobs infrastructure rebuilding program which is something that actually enjoys bipartisan support? Where's the bill? Where is that in the BUDGET? So far, trump is basically HOT AIR. No jobs bill. No rebuild infrastructure bill. Basically executive orders that don't do much. Remember Obama's close Guatmo executive order? Turns out you need more than executive orders to actually DO stuff. 

Getting real, of course it was obvious for anyone paying attention that trump is a massive CON MAN but the details of how his BIG CON is actually revealed ... that's his presidency. 

A massive overhaul seems like an obvious solution  for alot of the nations woes. Gov't spending to boost the economy,  jobs and job training for the workers  required for the projects. Not to mention it needs done anyway.

[Thailand]

Could use the obsolete tanks, nuclear weapons etc to build the Mexico wall.

[Chicog]

That's going to line a good few corporate pockets eh?

 

Drain the Swamp!

[rijb]

3 hours ago, JingerBen said:

It's not just the stupidity of Trump - it's the stupidity of those who voted him into office.

Although it could be argued that Hillary Clinton and the interests that she represents was a far worse alternative.

The recent election was a classic no-win situation for the American people and for the world.

What about the stupidity of Clinton, and her supporters, for not beating/outsmarting such a 'stupid' man.  

[ToS2014]

4 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

                   That's cute.  But thus far, Trump hasn't gotten any country to pay for anything.  He can wave his hands around and shout at his fans from the pulpit, and they lap it up like Hitler's fans lapped up Hitler's swaggering BS, but that won't get Mexico to pay one peso for the wall which won't work.  Trump's wall, if built, will be viewed as the Edsel of Walls, years later.  It's already been laughed at, and will continue to be the bastion of jokes for decades, .....except it's a 33 billion dollar joke - not dissimilar to the 54 billion dollar overspending-on-weapons joke Trump is now wanting to dump on American taxpayers.  Note:  Trump isn't a taxpayer.

 

                      Humpty Dumpty Trump is a disaster for America.  Russia and China like Trump because he will debilitate the US.  

"He can wave his hands around and shout at his fans from the pulpit, and they lap it up..."  So what's your beef?  The last eight years proves the point much more succinctly than 1+ month.  And what about the $1T 'shovel ready' joke?  C'mon, the coffee smells the same no matter the brewer!

[wwest5829]

4 hours ago, kamahele said:

If our military truly needs the increase, fine. However there is no way he can pay for the increase without increasing the deficit.  He is going to reduce taxes on the rich so the government will have less income and while he will slash the budgets of other government agencies and perhaps completely gut some, he will still increase government debt. Way to go deficit hawks!

Why not?He can follow the example set by Reagan. Run up the deficit. So much for  any move to balance the budget.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Trump gearing up for the ultimate distraction???

 

Watch the war while me and my friends rob you blind.

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Why not?He can follow the example set by Reagan. Run up the deficit. So much for  any move to balance the budget.

Why go so far back in history. Remember G.W. Bush? The budgets were running at about 0 deficit until Bush pushed for huge tax cuts mainly for the wealthy.

[boomerangutang]

          Trump's Job Pprogram:   Increase taxpayer-funded spending, which is also budget-busting to.....     ummm, .......to build weapons.  Raytheon, Boeing, Remington, Rockwell, and the other weapons makers will love those piles of Federal money poured into their laps.   A few thousand skilled jobs will become available - mostly in Republican districts, .......and Trump, Bannon, Republicans and rednecks can sit back and gloat about Trump's genius job-creating program.  

 

        No matter that Trump and most of his billionaire buddies avoid taxes.  Trump will give them and himself a softer place to fall, and make it easier to sock billions away at the Cayman Islands and/or see who can buy the biggest/flashiest yacht.