特朗普将86亿建墙费塞入预算 或为美政府再次关门埋下祸根

President Trump is calling for a big increase in defense spending next year - another $8.6 billion to pay for a wall along the U. S. -Mexico border and deep cuts to many domestic programs.

That's all in the blueprint for the annual budget that the White House released today. Lawmakers are not likely to adopt many of the president's suggestions,

but the document does offer a guide to Trump's priorities. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

President Trump wants to boost defense spending by $34 billion, or nearly 5 percent, in the fiscal year that begins in October. Trump also wants to increase spending on Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security by about 7 1/2 percent.

The president would partially offset those costs with deep cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Acting White House Budget Director Russell Vought says in a time of trillion-dollar deficits, tradeoffs have to be made.

We need to continue to secure the country. We need to continue to secure the border. We're not going to be bashful about that.

But at the same time, we're also going to say that we have many, many programs that are wasteful and inefficient that we can no longer afford. The president's budget calls for a 15 percent spending cut at the Department of Agriculture, a 23 percent cut at the State Department and a 31 percent cut at the EPA.

Congress largely ignored calls for cuts like that during Trump's first two years in office. And Sharon Parrott of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

says cuts are likely to be an even tougher sell now that House Democrats have a shared grip on the purse strings. Ultimately, what the administration is saying is we need to spend a lot more on defense,

but things like education and job training and environmental protection and infrastructure are unimportant for the nation's well-being. The White House budget also calls for cuts to programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance and welfare.