Trump releases budget calling for 5 percent cuts in domestic spending, $8.6 billion for wall

President Trump on Monday unveiled his 2020 budget proposal, calling for domestic spending cuts of 5 percent across the federal government. The White House, in Trump's latest budget, would turbo-charge defense spending while providing $8.6 billion to fund his proposed southern border wall. The proposal would raise overall defense spending to $750 billion, up from $716 billion in 2019, while slashing nondefense programs to $567 billion, down from the $597 billion allocated in 2019. The proposed nondefense spending level is aligned with the cap set in the Budget Control Act, a 2011 law that was meant to force Democrats and Republicans to compromise by setting draconian limits on both defense and nondefense spending. Democrats argue that the nondefense cut amounts to 9 percent, given that the legal cap will drop to $543 billion, with most of the difference accounted for by emergency disaster relief and wildfire suppression efforts that do not count toward budgetary ceilings approved under the Budget Control Act...MORE