President Trump is unveiling a $4.1 trillion budget today. The plan includes massive cuts to social programs, while calling for historic increases in military spending. The budget proposes to slash $800 billion from Medicaid, nearly $200 billion from nutritional assistance programs, such as food stamps and Meals on Wheels, and more than $72 billion from disability benefits. The plan would also completely eliminate some student loan programs.
It would ban undocumented immigrants from receiving support through some programs for families with children, including the child care tax credit. In a rare proposed benefit for families, the budget allocates $19 billion for six weeks of paid parental leave for new families—a project that has been spearheaded by his daughter and senior White House adviser, Ivanka Trump.
The budget also calls for a historic 10 percent increase in military spending and another $2.6 billion to further militarize the U.S.-Mexico border, including $1.6 billion to build Trump’s border wall. The budget projects 3 percent economic growth—which economists say is widely unrealistic. Unlike previous presidents, Trump is unveiling his proposed budget while he is abroad, currently spending the day in Israel and Palestine before he heads to the Vatican tonight. David Stockman, former budget director for President Ronald Reagan, said, “This budget is dead before arrival, so he might as well be out of town.”