President Donald Trump revealed new details about his proposed 2018 national budget, including a 10 percent increase in defense spending, with matching cuts to unspecified departments, before his address to Congress on Tuesday night.
“I am sending the Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the Defense sequester, and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history,” Trump said in his speech.
The spending increase, totaling about $54 billion, will go towards military spending. While Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchi has said that there will be no cuts made to entitlement spending, no details have been released regarding which departments will receive budget cuts.
James Moore, an East Asian studies freshman, said that he thinks Trump will take these funds from education and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Putting money towards defense is probably the last thing we need to do right now. I don’t think anybody really wants any more wars or anybody overseas,” Moore said. “We know he plans on taking money from these organizations that not only our country, but our whole world needs.”
In his address, Trump reaffirmed campaign promises, laid out plans and underlined his achievements in office thus far.
Unsurprisingly, one of the big themes of the address was immigration reform. Trump reiterated his plan to build a border wall which he described as being “very effective weapon against drugs and crime.”
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He said construction on the wall will begin ahead of schedule. Later in the speech, Trump denounced crimes perpetrated by illegal immigrants.
Citing recent attacks in France, Belgium and Germany, Trump said that he has directed the Department of Defense to create a plan that will defeat ISIS. Also, in a move to curb “radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump announced that his administration will be reforming vetting procedures applied to those coming from countries where vetting is more difficult.
On education, Trump called for bipartisan action on legislation that would fund school choice for disadvantaged families.
“These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school that is right for them,” Trump said.
Political science junior Gabrielle Morrison says that our public education system needs help to give schools what they need to provide students with the tools to succeed.
“I think there’s a huge gap, and our education system is failing because of it,” Morrison said.
In a change from the more isolationist rhetoric of his campaign, Trump described his foreign policy as one characterized by “direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world.” He also voiced his support for NATO, so long as member nations pay their dues.
Trump also revealed additional budget plans such as a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure and measures to stimulate domestic job growth, but did not give specific details in his speech.
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