Trump Proposes a Record $4.75 Trillion Budget – The New York Times

Disapproval from Democratic presidential candidates was just as blunt. “This is a budget for the military industrial complex, for corporate C.E.O.s, for Wall Street and for the billionaire class,” Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, said in a statement. “It is dead on arrival.”

Even some prominent Republicans greeted the president’s request somewhat coolly, because it did not go far enough to reduce the growing national debt.

Representative Steve Womack, Republican of Arizona and the ranking member on the Budget Committee, noted that only by cutting mandatory spending could the federal government seriously reduce deficits and debt.

“President Trump’s budget takes steps in the right direction, but there is still much work to do,” Mr. Womack said in a statement.

Administration officials fanned out to defend the budget. Russ Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, blamed Democrats for “our nation’s $22 trillion debt,” while omitting that the debt has soared under Mr. Trump.

In an Op-Ed on FoxNews.com, he said that the president’s proposed cuts in domestic spending were in line with his campaign promises. He then outlined a number of programs, such as $68 million “being spent every year on international labor activities, including promoting unions in countries in South America,” that he said highlighted wasteful spending.