US President Donald Trump is planning a five percent cut in defense spending in his draft budget. Yesterday, the Office of the Budget (OMB) announced that funds for the military, health care for veterans and border security should be increased.
Trump’s draft for the fiscal year 2020 is scheduled to be published today at around 16:30 (CET) on the OMB website. He should be smashed in Congress. In the House of Representatives, the opposition Democrats have the majority. Budget laws usually need 60 out of 100 votes in the Senate. Trump’s Republicans have only 53 in the chamber.
Additional billions of dollars for wall
As Reuters has previously learned from government circles, Trump will demand an additional $ 8.6 billion (7.7 billion euros) from Congress for building a wall on the Mexican border. Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate have already rejected this demand.
The fiscal year 2020 starts in October. Until then, there must be an understanding. The recent budget dispute culminated in a five-week stalemate by parts of the US government over the turn of the year. It was also about the wall – a core promise of Trump in the election campaign.
