WASHINGTON, Feb 10 — The White House will unveil a budget proposal that drops the Republicans’ long-term goal of eliminating the federal deficit over the next 10 years, US media said yesterday.
The budget proposal, expected to be released today, will instead target closing the deficit by 2035, the Washington Post reported, citing an internal summary.
President Donald Trump’s administration had sought to eliminate the fiscal gap over a decade, but the president has recently shown little interest in tackling growing government debt, the newspaper said.
The budget plan is expected to request US$2 billion (RM8.2 billion) in homeland security spending for the US-Mexico border wall, with the summary reportedly saying 400 miles (645 kilometres) of wall would be completed by the end of 2020.
“We will not be touching your Social Security or Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget,” Trump, who faces a re-election battle in November, tweeted Saturday.
“Only the Democrats will destroy them by destroying our Country’s greatest ever Economy!” he added.
The proposed budget will go before Congress, which is not required to agree to the White House’s requests.
According to Bloomberg News, the US$4.8 trillion plan includes US$740.5 billion for defence and a 5 per cent cut in non-defence spending.
Reducing income taxes on the richest Americans while slashing the corporate tax rate has spurred US growth but taken its toll on the budget deficit, which is projected to reach US$1.015 billion by the end of September. — AFP
