The White House on March 16, 2017, submitted to Congress a "skinny budget" for FY2018 that provides details only on discretionary funding proposals, including cuts to federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State Department, and a $54 billion increase in defense spending. It does not address tax proposals.

"The full Budget that will be released later this spring will include our specific mandatory and tax proposals, as well as a full fiscal path," the budget document stated. The level of detail on tax and other proposals that will be provided in the full Budget, expected in May, is not yet clear. Administration officials have continued to say that they are working on a tax plan.

The budget document highlighted modernizing infrastructure as a priority, saying that experts on the subject are evaluating investment options and policy changes with the goal of ensuring that funds are directed toward the highest return projects and that the government exercises vigorous oversight. "The Administration will provide more budgetary, tax, and legislative details in the coming months," the document stated.

President Trump said in the document that "the core of my first Budget Blueprint is the rebuilding of our Nation's military without adding to our Federal deficit," through a $54 billion increase in defense spending in 2018 that is offset by targeted reductions elsewhere. "We are going to do more with less, and make the Government lean and accountable to the people," he stated.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said that while the Federal budget is a complex document, "working for a President committed to keeping his promises means my job is as simple as translating his words into numbers." He promised scrutiny of "every corner of the Federal budget," and highlighted concern that "our $20 trillion national debt is a crisis." Press reports cited Mulvaney as acknowledging during a briefing yesterday that some of the proposed cuts would face resistance in Congress.

Among agency funding proposals in the document are cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including a reduction in the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) spending of $5.8 billion relative to the 2017 level. The Treasury Department's domestic programs would be cut by $519 million from the 2017 level, and the document called for "preserving key operations of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that the IRS could continue to combat identity theft, prevent fraud, and reduce the deficit through the effective enforcement and administration of tax laws."

The Budget also called for eliminating funding for independent agencies, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The document, "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again," is attached.

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2018_blueprint