In 2020, US President Donald Trump wants to spend even more money on armaments: his $ 4.7 trillion budget bill provides five percent more money for the defense budget and less money for the environment, health and welfare.
According to the White House, the defense budget is set to rise to 750 billion dollars (669 billion euros). For the "Medicare" health insurance, the central government wants to cancel 845 billion dollars. The budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the development aid agency USAID is to be cut by 23 percent.
Trump also insists on billions for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, his central campaign pledge. The bill earmarked an additional $ 8.6 billion.
Whether Trump gets the money, however, is questionable: US presidents traditionally submit their own budget drafts, which are primarily pure wish catalogs. In addition, budgetary law is at Congress, and since the beginning of the year Democrats have had a majority in the House of Representatives. The chamber's Democratic chairman, Nancy Pelosi, described the planned cuts as "ruthless and short-sighted" and announced that she was unwilling to support the draft.
If the White House and Congress do not agree on a new budget by the end of September, there will be another threat to government action. Due to the dispute over the wall demanded by Trump, it had come a few weeks ago to the longest "shutdown" in the history of the country. Several hundred government employees had to work without pay or stay in forced leave.
The White House proposal would not balance the budget within Trump's term. In terms of total debt, the US is currently at record levels. Most recently, US federal debt increased by 77 percent in the first four months (October to January) of the current fiscal year. The acting director of the budgetary authority blamed the previous democratic government for the high deficit. However, observers believe that Trump's tax reform has contributed significantly to this.