CLOSE President Trump's proposed budget will slash funding for a number of popular federal programs and agencies. USA TODAY 
 
 President Trump's budget proposal would defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provided funding for national broadcast of this 2013 "Memphis Soul" concert at the White House. (Photo: Getty Images) 
 
 Corrections & clarifications: A previous version of this story referred incorrectly to a Fish and Wildlife Service program proposed for elimination in President Trump’s budget submission. The Department of the Interior says it is the National Wildlife Refuge fund, a $13.2 million revenue-sharing arrangement with local governments. 
 
 WASHINGTON — President Trump's proposed budget takes a cleaver to domestic programs, with many agencies taking percentage spending cuts in the double digits. 
 
 
 
 But for dozens of smaller agencies and programs, the cut is 100%. 
 
 Community development block grants. The Weatherization Assistance Program. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The National Endowment for the Arts. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. All would be axed if Congress adopts Trump's budget. 
 
 Also proposed for elimination are lesser-known bureaucracies like the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program, the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program and the Inter-American Foundation. 
 
 Many of those programs have constituencies in states and cities across the country — and their champions in Congress. "The president's beholden to nobody but the people who elected him, and yes, I understand that every lawmaker over there has pet projects," said Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney. "That's the nature of the beast." 
 
 More coverage: 
 
 Trump's first budget uses dramatic cuts to fund military buildup 
 
 62 agencies and programs Trump wants to eliminate 
 
 On immigration, Trump's budget calls for far more than a wall 
 
 Trump proposes to hike TSA fee on airline tickets 
 
 Trump's NASA budget preserves Mars mission, cuts Earth science, asteroid trip, education 
 
 He said not every program would disappear overnight. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which now receives $485 million a year, might still get some federal funding in 2018, for example. "It might take a while to unwind that relationship. It’s just the nature of contracts," Mulvaney said. 
 
 Trump's budget says hundreds of programs and agencies would be eliminated — with more than 50 in the Environmental Protection Agency. But his first budget proposal identified 62 specifically. The list: 
 
 Department of Agriculture 
 
 Water and Wastewater loan and grant program ($498 million): "Rural communities can be served by private sector financing or other federal investments in rural water infrastructure, such as the Environmental Protection Agency's State Revolving Funds," the budget says. 
 
 McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program ($202 million): Trump's budget says the program — a sort of Third World school lunch project — "lacks evidence that it is being effectively implemented to reduce food insecurity." 
 
 Department of Commerce 
 
 Economic Development Administration ($221 million): Obama's 2017 budget touted the agency as " the only federal government agency with a mission and programs focused exclusively on economic development." The Trump budget says it has "limited measurable impacts and duplicates other federal programs." 
 
 Minority Business Development Agency ($32 million): The White House says this minority business incubator program is "duplicative" of other programs in the Small Business Administration. 
 
 Department of Education 
 
 Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program ($2.4 billion): The White House says the program is "poorly targeted and spread thinly across thousands of districts with scant evidence of impact." 
 
 21st Century Community Learning Centers program ($1.2 billion): The formula grants to states support before- and after-school and summer programs. "The programs lacks strong evidence of meeting its objectives, such as improving student achievement," the budget says. 
 
 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program ($732 million): This financial aid program, known as SEOG, help give up to $4,000 a year to college students based on financial need. The Trump administration says it's a "less well-targeted" program than Pell Grants. 
 
 Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program ($190 million): The grants are targeted toward students with disabilities or limited English proficiency. 
 
 Teacher Quality Partnership ($43 million): A teacher training and recruitment grant program. 
 
 Impact Aid Support Payments for Federal Property ($67 million): Obama also proposed the elimination of this program, which reimburses schools for lost tax revenue from tax-exempt federal properties in their districts. 
 
 International Education programs ($7 million): This line item funds a variety of exchange programs, migrant schools and special education services abroad. 
 
 Department of Energy 
 
 Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ($382 million): This alternative energy research program was established by Congress in 2007 with the goal of funding projects that the private sector would not. 
 
 Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program: This loan fund finances projects that combat global warming. 
 
 Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program: Helps finance fuel-efficient vehicle research. "The private sector is better positioned to finance disruptive energy research and development and to commercialize innovative technologies," the White House says. 
 
 Weatherization Assistance Program ($121 million): The program helps homeowners make their homes more energy efficient with grants of up to $6,500. 
 
 State Energy Program ($28.2 million): Gives grants to states to help them work on energy efficiency and anti-climate change programs. 
 
 Department of Health and Human Services 
 
 Health professions and nursing training programs ($403 million): Trump's budget says these programs "lack evidence that they significantly improve the nation's health workforce." Instead, Trump wants to provide scholarships and student loans in in exchange for service in areas with a nursing shortage. 
 
 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ($3.4 billion): LIHEAP helps the elderly and low-income people pay their heating and power bills. 
 
 Community Services Block Grants ($715 million): CSBG is an anti-poverty grant program that the White House says duplicates emergency food assistance and employment programs. 
 
 Department of Housing and Urban Development 
 
 Community Development Block Grant program ($3 billion): CDBG has been a bread-and-butter funding source for local communities for 42 years, totaling more than $150 billion in grants over its history. "The program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results," Trump's budget says. 
 
 Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing program ($35 million): The affordable housing program supports organizations like the Local Initiatives Support Corp., which the White House says should be privately funded. 
 
 Department of the Interior 
 
 Abandoned Mine Land grants ($160 million): The Trump administration wants to eliminate a discretionary grant program that it says overlaps with a $2.7 billion permanent fund. 
 
 National Heritage Areas ($20 million): These are state-and-federal partnerships to preserve natural, historic, scenic, and cultural resources. 
 
 National Wildlife Refuge fund ($13.2 million): This is a revenue-sharing fund that makes payments to counties where wildlife refuges are located from fees the Fish and Wildlife Service receives. 
 
 Department of Justice 
 
 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program ($210 million): Four states receive the bulk of the funding from this program, which reimburses states for the cost of incarcerating criminal immigrants. 
 
 Department of Labor 
 
 Senior Community Service Employment Program ($434 million): SCSEP is a job training program for low-income people 55 and older that the White House says is "ineffective." 
 
 Occupational Safety and Health Administration training grants ($11 million) 
 
 Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development 
 
 The Global Climate Change Initiative ($1.3 billion) was an Obama administration proposal to support the Paris climate agreement. It includes the Green Climate Fund ($250 million), the Strategic Climate Fund ($60 million) and the Clean Technology Fund ($171 million). 
 
 Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund ($70 million): The account allows the president to "provide humanitarian assistance for unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs worldwide," but Trump said the mission is best left to international and non-governmental relief organizations 
 
 The East-West Center ($16 million): Chartered by Congress as the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West, the Honolulu-based nonprofit has a mission of strengthening relations among Pacific Rim countries. 
 
 Department of Transportation 
 
 The Essential Air Service program ($175 million) provides federal subsidies for commercial air service at rural airports. EAS flights are not full and have high subsidy costs per passenger. Trump's budget says several of those airports are close to major airports, and that rural communities could be served by other modes of transportation. 
 
 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants ($499 million): The Obama-era TIGER program funded multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional projects, but the White House wants to cut existing infrastructure spending in favor of his own $1 trillion infrastructure proposal. 
 
 Department of the Treasury 
 
 Community Development Financial Institutions grants ($210 million): Trump's budget says the 23-year-old program to support community banks and credit unions is obsolete. 
 
 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
 
 Geographic watershed programs ($427 million) like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative ($40 million) and the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Initiative ($14 million): The Trump budget would turn over responsibility for those efforts to state and regional governments. 
 
 Fifty other EPA programs ($347 million) including Energy Star, Targeted Airshed Grants, the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, and infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native Villages and the Mexico border. 
 
 National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
 
 Office of Education ($115 million), which the Trump budget says duplicates efforts by the agency's Science Mission Directorate. 
 
 Independent agencies and commissions 
 
 African Development Foundation ($26 million): An independent foreign aid agency focusing on economic development in Africa. 
 
 Appalachian Regional Commission ($119 million): A 52-year-old agency focused on economic growth in 420 counties. 
 
 Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board ($11 million): The agency was created by the Clean Air Act of 1990 and investigates chemical accidents. 
 
 Corporation for National and Community Service ($771 million): The agency is best known for its Americorps community service program. 
 
 Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($485 million): Supports public television and radio stations, including the PBS television network and, indirectly, National Public Radio. 
 
 Delta Regional Authority ($45 million): An economic development agency for the eight-state Mississippi Delta region. 
 
 Denali Commission ($14 million): A state and federal economic development agency for Alaska. 
 
 Institute of Museum and Library Services ($231 million): Provides money to the nation's 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. 
 
 Inter-American Foundation ($23 million): Promotes "citizen-led grassroots development" in Latin America and the Caribbean. 
 
 U.S. Trade and Development Agency ($66 million): Promotes U.S. exports in energy, transportation, and telecommunications. 
 
 Legal Services Corp. ($366 million): A 43-year-old congressionally chartered organization that helps provide free civil legal advice to poor people. 
 
 National Endowment for the Arts ($152 million): Encourages participation in the arts. 
 
 National Endowment for the Humanities ($155 million): Supports scholarship into literature and culture. 
 
 Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. ($175 million): Better known as Neighborworks America, the organization supports local affordable housing programs. 
 
 Northern Border Regional Commission ($7 million): A regional economic development agency serving parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. 
 
 Overseas Private Investment Corp.($63 million): Encourages U.S. private investment in the developing world. 
 
 U.S. Institute of Peace ($40 million): Government-run think tank focusing on conflict prevention. 
 
 U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness ($4 million): An independent agency coordinating the federal government's efforts to reduce homelessness. 
 
 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars ($11 million): A program to provide scholarships and fellowships in social sciences and humanities. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2npSH9a ||||| President Trump on Thursday will unveil a budget plan that calls for a sharp increase in military spending and stark cuts across much of the rest of the government including the elimination of dozens of long-standing federal programs that assist the poor, fund scientific research and aid America’s allies abroad. 
 
 Trump’s first budget proposal, which he named “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” would increase defense spending by $54 billion and then offset that by stripping money from more than 18 other agencies. Some would be hit particularly hard, with reductions of more than 20 percent at the Agriculture, Labor and State departments and of more than 30 percent at the Environmental Protection Agency. 
 
 It would also propose eliminating future federal support for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Within EPA alone, 50 programs and 3,200 positions would be eliminated. 
 
 The cuts could represent the widest swath of reductions in federal programs since the drawdown after World War II, probably leading to a sizable cutback in the federal non-military workforce, something White House officials said was one of their goals. 
 
 “You can’t drain the swamp and leave all the people in it,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters. 
 
 Many of Trump’s budget proposals are likely to run into stiff resistance from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, even from Republicans, whose support is crucial because they must vote to authorize government appropriations. Republicans have objected, for example, to the large cuts in foreign aid and diplomacy that Trump has foreshadowed, and his budget whacks foreign aid programs run by the Education, State and Treasury departments, among others. 
 
 “The administration’s budget isn’t going to be the budget,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “We do the budget here. The administration makes recommendations, but Congress does budgets.” 
 
 Trump’s budget would not take effect until the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, but the president must still reach a separate agreement with Congress by the end of April, when a temporary funding bill expires. If they can’t reach an agreement, and if Trump’s new budget plan widens fault lines, then the chances would increase for a partial government shutdown starting on April 29. 
 
 The president and Congress must also raise the debt ceiling, which has become a politically fraught ritual. Although the ceiling was extended until March 15, budget experts say the government should be able to continue borrowing money by suspending or stretching out payments through August or September. 
 
 White House budget proposals are often changed by lawmakers, but they serve as a marker for how the president plans to govern and as an opening bid on budget talks. Mulvaney said the White House was open to negotiation, but he was unapologetic about the size and scope of the reductions. 
 
 “This budget represents a president who is beholden to nobody but the voters,” Mulvaney said. “He is following through on his promises. We did not consult with special interests on how to write this budget. We did not consult with lobbyists on how to write this budget. The president’s team wrote this budget and that’s what you’ll see in the numbers.” 
 
 The 53-page budget plan offers the clearest snapshot yet of Trump’s priorities. Yet it is also far shorter and vaguer than White House budget plans normally are. One of the missing details is precisely where and how many jobs would be eliminated across the federal government. 
 
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 [Read President Trump’s first budget proposal] 
 
 Parts of the budget proposal also appear to contradict Trump’s agenda. Trump has said he wants to eliminate all disease, but the budget chops funding for the National Institutes of Health by $5.8 billion, or close to 20 percent. He has said he wants to create a $1 trillion infrastructure program, but the proposal would eliminate a Transportation Department program that funds nearly $500 million in road projects. It does not include new funding amounts or a tax mechanism for Trump’s infrastructure program, postponing those decisions. 
 
 And the Trump administration proposed to eliminate a number of other programs, particularly those that serve low-income Americans and minorities, because it questioned their effectiveness. This included the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which disburses more than $3 billion annually to help heat homes in the winter. It also proposed abolishing the Community Development Block Grant program, which provides roughly $3 billion for targeted projects related to affordable housing, community development and homelessness programs, among other things. 
 
 The budget was stuffed with other cuts and reductions. It calls for privatizing the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control function, cutting all funding for long-distance Amtrak train services and eliminating EPA funding for the restoration of Chesapeake Bay. Job training programs would also be cut, pushing more responsibility for this onto the states and employers. 
 
 Many Republicans have criticized these programs in the past as wasteful and ineffective, but supporters have said the programs are vital for communities in need. 
 
 The proposed budget extensively targets Obama programs and investments focused on climate change, seeking to eliminate payments to the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund — one key component of the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate agreement — and to slash research funding for climate, ocean and earth science programs at agencies such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. At the same time, clean-energy research, heavily privileged by the Obama administration, would suffer greatly under the budget with the elimination of the ­ARPA-E program (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) at the Energy Department and an unspecified cut to the agency’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. 
 
 “I think one of the reasons they’re proposing them [big spending cuts] is that they know they won’t ever get through Congress,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). “They know they’d be a disaster for their own party if they did. It makes for a great talking point. It actually fits on a tweet.” 
 
 There were several areas in which Trump proposed increasing spending. He proposed, for example, $168 million for charter school programs and $250 million for a new private-school choice program, which would probably provide tuition assistance for families who opt to send their children to private schools. 
 
 The biggest increase in spending would be directed at the Pentagon, but the budget plan does not make clear where the new $54 billion would go. The budget plan would boost funding for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. It would, among other things, acquire new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and rebuild what it says are depleted munitions inventories. But it stops short of saying how these new funds would support new tactics to combat the Islamic State. 
 
 The bump in defense spending was a marked contrast to the cuts Trump proposed in diplomatic and international programs. He proposed cutting combined spending for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development by $10.1 billion, or nearly 29 percent. It would cut an unspecified amount of funding from U.N. peacekeeping efforts. It would also cut spending for Treasury International Programs, foreign assistance programs that have been supported by Republican and Democratic administrations, by $803 million, or 35 percent. 
 
 Trump directed funding to meet several of his campaign pledges as well. 
 
 He proposed new money to hire border security agents and immigration judges. 
 
 And he requested $1.7 billion in new funding this year and an additional $2.6 billion in new funding in 2018 to begin construction of a wall along the border with Mexico. Trump proposed creating this wall during his campaign and had said Mexico would pay for it. A number of congressional Republicans appear to be cooling on the idea. 
 
 The federal government is expected to spend more than $4 trillion in the fiscal year that begins in October, and Trump’s budget proposal would deal with slightly more than 25 percent of this funding. The government is expected to spend $487 billion more than it brings in through revenue during the next fiscal year, and to avoid widening the deficit, Trump proposed steep cuts across the budget to compensate for the new defense spending. 
 
 Trump will propose a more comprehensive budget plan in May, which could include changes to programs such as Medicaid and also offer economic forecasts. But that proposal will come after the deadline for reaching an agreement to avoid a partial shutdown. So Thursday’s budget proposal from Trump will factor squarely into those negotiations. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Proposed budget for Commerce would cut funds for NOAA 
 
 Trump would increase Energy Department funds to manage nuclear stockpile 
 
 Labor Dept. cuts target job training programs for seniors, disadvantaged youths 
 
 Kelsey Snell and Philip Rucker contributed to this report. ||||| President Trump's proposed budget calls for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Small and rural programs would be hit hardest. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post) 
 
 In search of massive spending cuts to counterbalance a $54 billion increase in defense spending, President Trump’s budget blueprint proposes the outright elimination of at least 19 federal agencies. Agencies on the chopping block include some household names, such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as more obscure offices like the Northern Border Regional Commission and the Chemical Safety Board. 
 
 Trump writes that the blueprint “emphasizes national security and public safety” in an accompanying memo. But “to keep Americans safe, we have made the tough choices that have been put off for too long.” The federal government, he writes, must “do more with less.” He challenges federal agencies to “achieve greater efficiency and to eliminate wasteful spending in carrying out their honorable service to the American people.” 
 
 The agencies Trump proposes eliminating completely represent a small fraction of the $54 billion in savings he needs to offset defense increases. For instance, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets about $485 million per year, most of which is distributed to local television and radio stations. With $54 billion, you could fund the CPB at its 2016 level for the next 121 years. 
 
 If “All Things Considered” is not your thing, $54 billion would fund the Legal Services Corporation for 140 years. The corporation, which helps low-income Americans get legal assistance, distributes grants that support over 9,000 full-time legal staff around the country. Under Trump’s budget, federal funding for that program will be eliminated. 
 
 Trump also wants to eliminate federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts AND the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund the defense spending hike. Conversely, he could take that money and fund both agencies — at their 2016 levels — for the next 183 years. 
 
 
 
 A man holds a puppet and a sign in support of public broadcasting during the “Million Puppet March” in Washington on November 3, 2012. (AFP) 
 
 There are lots of teeny, tiny agencies on the chopping block too. One of them is the United States Institute of Peace, a federal think tank working in the realm of international conflict resolution. On its website, the Institute notes that its 300 employees work at “the Institute’s headquarters in Washington, which faces the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and symbolizes our nation’s commitment to peace.” 
 
 Instead of spending $54 billion on the military, Trump could continue to fund that commitment to peace for 1,543 years. Instead, he’s eliminating the entirety of the Institute’s $35 million annual budget. 
 
 Or what about the Chemical Safety Board? For $11 million a year, the CSB investigates chemical accidents at federal facilities and issues safety recommendations. $54 billion would fund the Board for 4,909 years. But in Trump’s budget, the agency faces losing all federal funding. 
 
 The smallest office on the chopping block is the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, whose 21 employees coordinate the federal response to homelessness for the low, low sum of about $4 million a year. (Incidentally that's just a little bit more than the price to taxpayers of a single Trump trip to Mar-a-Lago. He’s spent five weekends there so far this year.) 
 
 About $54 billion would fund the Council’s operations for 13,500 years. Instead, under the Trump budget, it’s set to be funded for exactly zero. 
 
 A presidential budget, of course, is far from a done deal. It’s more of a political document, a picture of where an administration’s priorities lie. And from the cuts above it's pretty clear what the Trump White House’s priorities are. 
 
 The list of agencies facing elimination is below: 
 
 Agency FY 2016 budget (millions) United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 4 Northern Border Regional Commission 8 Chemical Safety Board 11 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 11 Denali Commission 20 Inter-American Foundation 22 Delta Regional Authority 25 African Development Foundation 30 United States Institute of Peace 35 U.S. Trade and Development agency 60 Overseas Private Investment Corporation 83 Appalachian Regional Commission 146 National Endowment for the Arts 148 National Endowment for the Humanities 148 Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation 175 Institute for Museum and Library Services 230 Legal Services Corporation 385 Corporation for Public Broadcasting 445 Corporation for National & Community Service (AmeriCorps) 1,095 
 
 Icons by Rudolf Horaczek, Nick Abrams, Cornelius Danger, Rafa and Rohith MS, The Noun Project ||||| During his remarks, Trump repeated a claim that the U.S. has spent $6 trillion on wars in the Middle East in the last sixteen years. That figure appears to combine a high estimate of money spent (about $4.79 trillion, including money set aside for 2017) and projected future spending, with a difference of $1 trillion or more, according to PolitiFact . 
 
 Donald Trump, speaking to the nation's governors at the White House on Feb. 27, said he plans to increase defense spending by finding savings and efficiencies in the government. “We are going to do more with less,” Trump said. 
 
 President Donald Trump unveiled a $1.15 trillion budget on Thursday, a far-reaching overhaul of federal government spending that cuts the federal workforce and slashes many domestic programs to finance a significant increase in the military and make a down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall. 
 
 Trump's proposal seeks to upend Washington with cuts to long-promised campaign targets like foreign aid and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as strong congressional favorites such as medical research, help for homeless veterans and community development grants. 
 
 "A budget that puts America first must make the safety of our people its number one priority — because without safety, there can be no prosperity," Trump said in a message accompanying his proposed budget that was titled "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again." 
 
 The cuts could have devastating effects in the D.C. area, where the federal government is the largest employer. 
 
 Environmentalists and Environmental Protection Agency employees protested against the proposed cuts Wednesday outside the agency's Washington headquarters. Workers are concerned about their jobs and their ability to serve the country, said the president of the largest union representing EPA employees, AFGE Local 331. 
 
 "People are definitely worried. They're definitely worried about their jobs, and they're worried about the mission of the agency. We do need clean air and water," Nathaniel James said. 
 
 The $54 billion boost for the military is the largest since President Ronald Reagan's Pentagon buildup in the 1980s, promising immediate money for troop readiness, the fight against Islamic State militants and procurement of new ships, fighter jets and other weapons. The 10 percent Pentagon boost is financed by $54 billion in cuts to foreign aid and domestic agencies that had been protected by former President Barack Obama. 
 
 The budget goes after the frequent targets of the party's staunchest conservatives, eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, legal aid for the poor, low-income heating assistance and the AmeriCorps national service program established by former President Bill Clinton. 
 
 Spicer Stands By Trump's Wiretapping Claim 
 
 White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump stands by his claim of being under surveillance by the Obama administration, despite a joint statement from the top two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Spicer alleged the House and Senate were not fully briefed, despite statements to the contrary. (Published Thursday, March 16, 2017) 
 
 Such programs were the focus of lengthy battles dating to the GOP takeover of Congress in 1995 and have survived prior attempts to eliminate them. Lawmakers will have the final say on Trump's proposal in the arduous budget process, and many of the cuts will be deemed dead on arrival. Mulvaney acknowledged to reporters that passing the cuts could be an uphill struggle and said the administration would negotiate over replacement cuts. 
 
 Mulvaney also went after GOP favorites, including aid to rural schools and health research, while eliminating subsidies for rural air service and the federal flood insurance program that's a linchpin for the real estate market, especially in coastal southern states and the Northeast. 
 
 Trump's GOP allies Capitol Hill gave it only grudging praise, if any. "Congress has the power of the purse," reminded House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J. "I look forward to reviewing this," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. 
 
 "This is not a take-it-or-leave-it budget," Mulvaney admitted. 
 
 Key Takeaways From Trump's 'America First' Budget Proposal 
 
 President Donald Trump released his first budget proposal on Thursday. Here are some of the biggest budget cuts and increases that he’d wants made in the federal government. (Published Thursday, March 16, 2017) 
 
 Law enforcement agencies like the FBI would be spared, while the border wall would receive an immediate $1.4 billion infusion in the ongoing fiscal year, with another $2.6 billion planned for the 2018 budget year starting Oct. 1. 
 
 Trump repeatedly claimed during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall when, in fact, U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill. 
 
 Twelve of the government's 15 Cabinet agencies would absorb cuts under the president's proposal. The biggest losers are Agriculture, Labor, State, and the Cabinet-level EPA. The Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Veterans Affairs are the winners. 
 
 More than 3,000 EPA workers would lose their jobs and programs such as Obama's Clean Power Plan, which would tighten regulations on emissions from power plants seen as contributing to global warming, would be eliminated. Popular EPA grants for state and local drinking and wastewater projects would be preserved, however, even as research into climate change would be eliminated. 
 
 'Lock Her Up': Crowd Chants as Trump Rips Clinton 
 
 Months after his victory over Hillary Clinton, President Donald Trump prompted chants of "Lock Her Up" from the crowd during a joke made at her expense at a Wednesday night Nashville, Tennessee, appearance. (Published Thursday, March 16, 2017) 
 
 Trump's proposal covers only roughly one-fourth of the approximately $4 trillion federal budget, the discretionary portion that Congress passes each year. It doesn't address taxes, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, or make predictions about deficits and the economy. Those big-picture details are due in mid-May, and are sure to show large — probably permanent — budget deficits. Trump has vowed not to cut Social Security and Medicare and is dead set against raising taxes. 
 
 "The president's going to keep his promises" to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, Mulvaney said. 
 
 But the budget increases user fees, boosting the airline ticket tax by $1 per one-way trip. 
 
 The so-called "skinny budget" is indeed skimpy, glossing over cuts to many sensitive programs such as community health centers, national parks, offering only a vague, two-page summary of most agencies, including the Pentagon, where allocating its additional billions is still a work in progress. 
 
 Trump Lashes Out at Report of Leaked Tax Returns 
 
 President Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter Wednesday morning after Rachel Maddow and David Cay Johnston released leaked copies of Trump's 2005 tax returns. The returns revealed Trump paid $38 million on a $152 million income. (Published Wednesday, March 15, 2017) 
 
 Trump's proposal is sure to land with a thud on Capitol Hill, and not just with opposition Democrats outraged over cuts to pet programs such as renewable energy, climate change research and rehabilitation of housing projects. 
 
 Republicans like Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio are irate over planned elimination of a program to restore the Great Lakes. Top Republicans like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker of Tennessee are opposed to drastic cuts to foreign aid. And even GOP defense hawks like Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas aren't satisfied with the $54 billion increase for the military. 
 
 Before the two sides go to war over Trump's 2018 plan, they need to clean up more than $1.1 trillion in unfinished agency budgets for the current year. A temporary catchall spending bill expires April 28; negotiations have barely started and could get hung up over Trump's request for the wall and additional border patrol and immigration enforcement agents, just for starters. 
 
 Some of the most politically sensitive domestic programs would be spared, including food aid for pregnant women and their children, housing vouchers for the poor, aid for special education and school districts for the poor, and federal aid to historically black colleges and universities. 
 
 Russian Intelligence Members Charged in Massive Yahoo Hack 
 
 The Department of Justice charged two Russian intelligence officers and two criminal hackers in the 2014 hacking of Yahoo that affected at least 500 million accounts and millions of user contracts. (Published Wednesday, March 15, 2017) 
 
 But the National Institutes of Health would absorb a $5.8 billion cut despite Trump's talk in a recent address to Congress of finding "cures to the illnesses that have always plagued us." Subsidies for airlines serving rural airports in Trump strongholds would be eliminated. It would also shut down Amtrak's money-losing long-distance routes and kill off a popular $500 million per-year "TIGER Grant" program for highway projects created by Obama. 
 
 Copyright Associated Press / NBC Bay Area ||||| Image copyright Reuters 
 
 The White House has unveiled a $4.1tr (£3.1tr) budget that would take the axe to the social safety net for the poor. 
 
 The plan would sharply slash food stamps, healthcare for low-income patients and disability benefits, and eliminate student loan subsidies. 
 
 The budget also features an Ivanka Trump plan for paid parental leave. 
 
 The US military would receive a 10% boost while $1.6bn would be allocated for a wall on the border with Mexico. 
 
 President Trump, who is travelling overseas, missed the unveiling of his first full budget, titled A New Foundation for American Greatness. 
 
 Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, told reporters on Tuesday the proposal is "simply the president's priorities put on paper". 
 
 Is the president's budget law? 
 
 No. A US president's annual budget is a policy wish list that stands little chance of being enacted. 
 
 The Senate and House of Representatives will pass their own versions, which will then go to congressional committees before the final spending plan is cemented. 
 
 The Trump budget might have expected a sympathetic reading in the Republican-controlled Congress. 
 
 But even fiscally hawkish conservatives are baulking at some of the $3.6tr in cuts. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption How US defence spending plan compares to allies and rivals. 
 
 What about these cuts? 
 
 Critics say the plan would hurt some of Mr Trump's supporters hardest. 
 
 Its proposed $190bn reduction in food stamps surpasses previous cuts put forward by Republicans to a programme that serves about 42 million people 
 
 Representatives from agricultural states are objecting to a plan to limit farm subsidies 
 
 Mr Trump promised on the campaign trail not to cut Medicaid, the healthcare programme for the poor, but his budget would cut the scheme by $800bn 
 
 Republicans are also squeamish about proposed cuts to Meals on Wheels, which provides food to the homebound elderly, disabled and veterans 
 
 But the funding cut to family-planning groups that offer abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, is likely to be welcomed by conservatives 
 
 The White House budget director said: "Yes, you have to have compassion for folks who are receiving federal funds, but you also have to have compassion for the folks who are paying it." 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Protesters at a Republican congressman's town hall meeting laid out gravestones for Meal on Wheels and popular public broadcasting programmes 
 
 What's the Ivanka plan? 
 
 The US is the only developed country that does not grant new mothers or fathers a single day of paid time off. 
 
 But the US first daughter, who also acts as assistant to the president, has championed a policy to change all that. 
 
 Ivanka Trump's $19bn plan to offer six weeks of paid leave to mothers and fathers makes this the first Republican administration to put forth such a proposal. 
 
 But congressional Republicans are unlikely to rubber-stamp a new government mandate. 
 
 And even Democrats, who have long cried out for such a benefit, may be reluctant to lend their support to this president. 
 
 Ivanka Trump: US first daughter 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ivanlka Trump (L) and her husband, Jared Kushner, are on an overseas trip with the president 
 
 So far to the right: Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC Washington 
 
 This proposed budget should be seen as a presidential statement of principles - and those principles often run counter to the ones Mr Trump campaigned on last year. 
 
 The defence spending boost is there, yes, but funds allocated for a border wall aren't nearly enough to realise Mr Trump's dream. Infrastructure spending is below the massive investment Mr Trump promised. 
 
 Candidate Trump also pledged to protect entitlement spending, but his budget makes massive cuts in the Medicaid healthcare programme for the poor. 
 
 There was always going to be some conflict between Mr Trump's campaign guarantees and reality, but this budget more closely resembles the agenda of the most aggressive Republican fiscal hawks. 
 
 The budget will have some support in Congress from hardliners, but it would have been difficult to imagine during the heat of the campaign that President Trump would start so far to the right. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Senate Budget Committee Chairman Eric Ueland hands out the budget proposal to colleagues 
 
 Is the plan economically viable? 
 
 This budget projects the US government will eliminate its deficit and be running a surplus by 2027 - for the first time since the 1990s. 
 
 The plan promises to cut tax rates, relying largely on hoped-for economic growth of 3% to avoid adding to the deficit. 
 
 But that forecast is well beyond the independent Congressional Budget Office assumptions of 1.9% growth. 
 
 The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan policy body, said the Trump budget is based on "rosy assumptions" and "does not add up". 
 
 The White House budget director said on Tuesday 3% growth "will be the new normal for this country", but conceded that without it, the "budget will never balance". 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Protest's against President Trump's budget began weeks ago 
 
 What's the reaction? 
 
 Democrats are predictably outraged. 
 
 Hillary Clinton said the Trump budget shows an "unimaginable level of cruelty" for millions of Americans and children. 
 
 Yet even conservatives are voicing anxiety about the magnitude of the cuts. 
 
 Mark Walker, chairman of the spending hawks in the Republican Study Committee, told the Washington Post: "There will be some concern if we go too deep in some of these areas." 
 
 Mark Meadows, chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, told the New York Times: "Meals on Wheels, even for some of us who are considered to be fiscal hawks, may be a bridge too far." 
 
 John Cornyn, the second ranking Republican in the Senate, said the plan was "dead on arrival". ||||| A portion of President Donald Trump's first proposed budget, focusing on the Department of Defense, and released by the Office of Management and Budget, is photographed in Washington, Wednesday, March... (Associated Press) 
 
 A portion of President Donald Trump's first proposed budget, focusing on the Department of Defense, and released by the Office of Management and Budget, is photographed in Washington, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. President Donald Trump is unveiling a $1.15 trillion budget, a far-reaching overhaul of federal... (Associated Press) 
 
 A portion of President Donald Trump's first proposed budget, focusing on the Department of Defense, and released by the Office of Management and Budget, is photographed in Washington, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. President Donald Trump is unveiling a $1.15 trillion budget, a far-reaching overhaul of federal... (Associated Press) A portion of President Donald Trump's first proposed budget, focusing on the Department of Defense, and released by the Office of Management and Budget, is photographed in Washington, Wednesday, March... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is unveiling a $1.15 trillion budget, a far-reaching overhaul of federal government spending that slashes a dozen departments to finance a significant increase in the military and make a down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall. 
 
 Thursday's scheduled budget release will upend Washington with cuts to long-promised campaign targets like foreign aid and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as strong congressional favorites such as medical research, help for homeless veterans and community development grants. 
 
 "A budget that puts America first must make the safety of our people its number one priority — because without safety, there can be no prosperity," Trump said in a message accompanying his proposed budget that was titled "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again." 
 
 The $54 billion boost for the military is the largest since President Ronald Reagan's Pentagon buildup in the 1980s, promising immediate money for troop readiness, the fight against Islamic State militants and procurement of new ships, fighter jets and other weapons. The 10 percent Pentagon boost is financed by $54 billion in cuts to foreign aid and domestic agencies that had been protected by former President Barack Obama. 
 
 The budget goes after the frequent targets of the party's staunchest conservatives, eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, legal aid for the poor, low-income heating assistance and the AmeriCorps national service program established by former President Bill Clinton. 
 
 Such programs were the focus of lengthy battles dating to the GOP takeover of Congress in 1995 and have survived prior attempts to eliminate them. Lawmakers will have the final say on Trump's proposal in the arduous budget process. 
 
 The budget is set for official release Thursday morning, but The Associated Press and other news outlets obtained the document in advance. 
 
 Law enforcement agencies like the FBI would be spared, while the border wall would receive an immediate $1.5 billion infusion in the ongoing fiscal year, with another $2.6 billion planned for the 2018 budget year starting Oct. 1. 
 
 Trump repeatedly claimed during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall when, in fact, U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill. 
 
 Twelve of the government's 15 Cabinet agencies would absorb cuts under the president's proposal. The biggest losers are Agriculture, Labor, State, and the Cabinet-level EPA. The Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Veterans Affairs are the winners. 
 
 More than 3,000 EPA workers would lose their jobs and programs such as Obama's Clean Power Plan, which would tighten regulations on emissions from power plants seen as contributing to global warming, would be eliminated. Popular EPA grants for state and local drinking and wastewater projects would be preserved, however. 
 
 Trump's proposal covers only roughly one-fourth of the approximately $4 trillion federal budget, the discretionary portion that Congress passes each year. It doesn't address taxes, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, or make predictions about deficits and the economy. Those big-picture details are due in mid-May, and are sure to show large — probably permanent — budget deficits. Trump has vowed not to cut Social Security and Medicare and is dead set against raising taxes. 
 
 "The president's going to keep his promises" to leave Social Security and Medicare alone, said White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. 
 
 Trump's proposal is sure to land with a thud on Capitol Hill, and not just with opposition Democrats outraged over cuts to pet programs such as renewable energy, climate change research and rehabilitation of housing projects. 
 
 Republicans like Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio are irate over planned elimination of a program to restore the Great Lakes. Top Republicans like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker of Tennessee are opposed to drastic cuts to foreign aid. And even GOP defense hawks like Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry of Texas aren't satisfied with the $54 billion increase for the military. 
 
 Before the two sides go to war over Trump's 2018 plan, they need to clean up more than $1.1 trillion in unfinished agency budgets for the current year. A temporary catchall spending bill expires April 28; negotiations have barely started and could get hung up over Trump's request for the wall and additional border patrol and immigration enforcement agents, just for starters. 
 
 Some of the most politically sensitive domestic programs would be spared, including food aid for pregnant women and their children, housing vouchers for the poor, aid for special education and school districts for the poor, and federal aid to historically black colleges and universities. 
 
 But the National Institutes of Health would absorb a $5.8 billion cut despite Trump's talk in a recent address to Congress of finding "cures to the illnesses that have always plagued us." Subsidies for airlines serving rural airports in Trump strongholds would be eliminated. Also zeroed out would be funding for subsidies of Amtrak's money-losing long-distance routes, and a $500 million per-year "TIGER Grant" program for highway projects created by Obama. 
 
 In a blow to endangered GOP Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, Trump's budget seeks $120 million to revive the mothballed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which is hugely unpopular in his state and was largely killed by the efforts of Democratic former Sen. Harry Reid. Heller is up for re-election next year in a state that backed Democrat Hillary Clinton. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201702/1578/1155968404_5339618538001_5339606314001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true White House calls for $54B bump in defense spending, sharp domestic cuts The Trump administration has not said how much money it will ask Congress to spend in total. 
 
 The White House took its first steps Monday toward what would be a dramatic reshuffling of the $3 trillion-plus federal budget, sending guidance to agencies that calls for a $54 billion increase in defense spending and corresponding reductions to most non-security agencies. 
 
 While Office of Management and Budget officials briefed reporters on the plan this morning, President Donald Trump publicly explained his proposal to focus federal spending on national security, including boosts to the military, local law enforcement and the Border Patrol, while cutting domestic programs and foreign aid. Trump has said his budget will not include cuts to Medicare or Social Security, the usual targets of Republicans trying to trim federal spending. 
 
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 “This budget follows through on my promise of keeping America safe, keeping out terrorists, keeping out criminals and putting violent offenders behind bars or removing them from our country altogether,” he said. 
 
 The White House has not yet defined the depth of cuts to particular programs. But some targets, such as the EPA, are in the cross-hairs of conservative groups that want severe reductions in programs such as the Obama administration's climate initiatives. 
 
 OMB Director Mick Mulvaney said Monday afternoon the Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget would include $462 billion in domestic funding and $603 billion in defense spending. 
 
 The proposed defense total is a $54 billion increase above the Budget Control Act spending caps for defense. Mulvaney called it one of the “largest increases in history.” 
 
 But the Obama administration also proposed a defense budget that busted the spending caps in fiscal 2018, and defense hawks in Congress were not happy with Monday’s announcement. 
 
 “Such a budget request would represent an increase of $18.5 billion above the level proposed by President Obama for fiscal year 2018,” Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement. “In other words, President Trump intends to submit a defense budget that is a mere 3 percent above President Obama’s defense budget, which has left our military underfunded, undersized, and unready to confront threats to our national security.” 
 
 McCain and House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) have proposed a defense budget of $640 billion for fiscal 2018. 
 
 Trump said the proposed increase in military spending “will be offset and paid for by finding greater savings and efficiencies across the federal government.” He didn’t offer specifics, though he pointed to recent attempts to negotiate military contracts, adding, “We cut the hell out of the prices.” 
 
 OMB officials declined to comment on how hard the funding reductions would hit the EPA, which now has an $8.1 billion budget. But they did note the proposal would conform to Trump’s campaign pledges to take an ax to the agency. (The president promised on the campaign trail to "get rid of it in almost every form," leaving only "little tidbits left.") 
 
 Foreign aid, which makes up about 1 percent of the federal budget, will also be heavily targeted. “This budget expects the rest of the world to step up in some of the programs this country has been so generous in funding in the past,” an OMB official said. 
 
 The president said he would “substantially” increase spending to law enforcement, on the local and federal levels, blasting violent crime in urban areas like Chicago. 
 
 The Trump administration has not said how much money it will ask Congress to spend in total, or from where the cuts would come. Administration officials have said Trump’s budget blueprint will not touch entitlement programs or other mandatory spending, which makes up about two-thirds of federal spending each year. 
 
 Trump hinted that he would provide some additional details in his joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, when he is expected to lay out his priorities for his first year. 
 
 The White House will propose a full budget “later in the year,” but the budget “blueprint” agencies will now work on is expected by mid-March, the OMB officials said. 
 
 Trump hinted that budget would adhere to fiscal standards, in line with previous remarks from close advisers like OMB Director Mick Mulvaney. 
 
 “With the $20 trillion in debt, the government must learn to tighten its belt,” Trump said. 
 
 But he also made clear he planned to stick with his big-ticket agenda items like infrastructure. 
 
 Lamenting the state of the nation’s roads, bridges and tunnels, Trump promised massive investments nationwide. 
 
 “We’re going to take care of that. We’re going to start spending on infrastructure, big,” Trump said. ||||| President Donald Trump speaks to a meeting of the National Governors Association,Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 President Donald Trump speaks to a meeting of the National Governors Association,Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Donald Trump's upcoming budget will propose a whopping $54 billion increase in defense spending and impose corresponding cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid. The result is that Trump's initial budget wouldn't dent budget deficits projected to run about $500 billion. 
 
 White House budget officials outlined the information during a telephone call with reporters given on condition of anonymity. The budget officials on the call ignored requests to put the briefing on the record, even though Trump on Friday decried the use of anonymous sources by the media. 
 
 Trump's defense budget and spending levels for domestic agency operating budgets will be revealed in a partial submission to Congress next month, with proposals on taxes and other programs coming later. 
 
 The big, approximately 10 percent increase for the Pentagon would fulfill a Trump campaign promise to build up the military. The senior budget office official said there will be a large reduction in foreign aid and that most domestic agencies will have to absorb cuts. He did not offer details, but the administration is likely to go after longtime Republican targets like the Environmental Protection Agency. 
 
 Tentative proposals for the 2018 budget year that begins Oct. 1 are being sent to agencies, which will have a chance to propose changes to the cuts as part of a longstanding tradition at the budget office. 
 
 Trump's budget, once finalized and sent to Congress in mid-March, is sure to set off a huge Washington battle. Democrats and some Republicans are certain to resist the cuts to domestic agencies, and any legislation to implement them would have to overcome a filibuster threat by Senate Democrats. A government shutdown is a real possibility. 
 
 Trump's budget also won't make significant changes to Social Security or Medicare, according to an administration official. 
 
 Capitol Hill aides confirmed details of the upcoming blueprint on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that's not yet been made public. 
 
 Trump's first major fiscal marker will land in the agencies one day before his first address to a joint session of Congress. For Trump, the primetime speech is an opportunity to refocus his young presidency on the core economic issues that were a centerpiece of his White House run. 
 
 The upcoming submission covers the budget year starting on Oct. 1. But first there's an April 28 deadline to finish up the unfinished spending bills for the ongoing 2017 budget year, which is almost half over, and any stumble or protracted battle could risk a government shutdown then as well. 
 
 The March release is also expected to include an immediate infusion of 2017 cash for the Pentagon that's expected to register about $20 billion or so and contain the first wave of funding for Trump's promised border wall and other initiatives like hiring immigration agents. 
 
 The president previewed a boost in military spending during a speech Friday to conservative activists, pledging "one of the greatest build-ups in American history." 
 
 "We will be substantially upgrading all of our military, all of our military, offensive, defensive, everything, bigger and better and stronger than ever before," he said. 
 
 In an interview with Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said cuts to Social Security and Medicare would not be part of the administration's first budget. Trump's priority is passing legislation to reduce middle-class and corporate taxes, he said. 
 
 As a candidate, Trump promised to leave major entitlements untouched, breaking with some Republican leaders who believe the costly programs need to be reformed. 
 
 The White House budget office issued a statement confirming that an interim budget submission will be released in mid-March but declining to comment on an "internal discussion." 
 
 "The president and his Cabinet are working collaboratively to create a budget that keeps the president's promises to secure the country and restore fiscal sanity to how we spend American taxpayers' money," said Office of Management and Budget spokesman John Czwartacki. 
 
 Czwartacki said that the March submission would only address agency operating budgets funded by Congress and that proposals on tax reform and so-called mandatory programs — they include food stamps, student loans, health programs and farm subsidies — will be released later. 
 
 By increasing defense and leaving Medicare and Social Security untouched, the Trump final budget plan is sure to project sizable deficits. In the campaign Trump promised huge tax cuts but top GOP leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin don't want this year's tax reform drive to add to the budget deficit.
– President Trump's first budget proposal was officially unveiled Thursday morning—and it delivers exactly what he promised. The proposal—titled "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again"—contains cuts that the Washington Post says could be the biggest reduction in federal programs since the post-World War II drawdown. The Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department are the hardest-hit agencies according to budget previews, with cuts of around 30%. Military spending would be beefed up by $54 billion under the proposal, $1.5 billion is earmarked for a border wall, and Homeland Security would get a 6.8% funding increase. A roundup of coverage about the $1.15 trillion spending plan: The document is here. Politico reports that the budget is "red meat" for Trump's base, with deep cuts to their most disliked government agencies and programs, though it is also what's known as a "skinny budget" because it is so short on details. A more detailed budget will be out in May. The AP lists winners and losers. The latter group includes the departments of Energy, Labor, and Transportation, along with after-school programs and many independent agencies supported by tax dollars. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney acknowledged that the cuts would lead to job losses, Reuters reports. "You can’t drain the swamp and leave all the people in it," he said during a budget preview Wednesday. He said that White House officials had looked at Trump's campaign speeches, and "turned those policies into numbers." The New York Times reports that congressional Republicans have already declared parts of the plan dead on arrival. "The administration’s budget isn’t going to be the budget," Sen. Marco Rubio told reporters. "We do the budget here. The administration makes recommendations, but Congress does budgets." The Hill notes that such proposals tend to be "little more than guidance" for lawmakers—and that the Senate shot down Obama's 2015 budget 98 to 1. The AP reports that the budget funds Trump's boost for the Pentagon, the biggest since Ronald Reagan's, with cuts to conservative targets including the National Endowment for the Arts, legal aid for the poor, and the AmeriCorps national service program. NBC notes that Trump's proposal, which makes cuts to 12 out of 15 Cabinet agencies, only covers the "discretionary" quarter of the $4 trillion budget for the fiscal year that starts in October. The portion dealing with issues including taxation, Social Security, and Medicare is due in mid-May. The Washington Post reports that the budget proposal's elimination of funding for public broadcasting means that Big Bird's doom has been predicted once again, though public broadcasting has survived previous "zero funding" proposals all the way back to Richard Nixon.