How Trump's budget will affect key areas

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President Trump’s first budget can be described as follows: great gifts for the rich, big cuts for the poor.

White House Budget Director Mick Malwani defended on Tuesday the main cuts in social protection programs included in President Trump's budget proposal.

“We're not excluding people who really need it,” Mulvaney said after the White House sent Trump's first full budget plan for fiscal 2018.

But there are people who receive food aid or disability payments while they have to work.

Taking these and other program cuts into account, Trump's proposal promises a balanced budget through 10 years while increasing funding for the president’s priorities, including strengthening national defense, building a wall along the border with Mexico, and lowering taxes.

“These are all the president’s campaign promises,” Mulvaney said.

The White House expects the economy to grow faster than current policy projections. And the administration is also relying on other unrealistic expectations, such as that tax cuts won't reduce federal revenues, according to budget experts. He also promises to make cuts that aren't actually detailed in the plan—and suggests that Congress is unlikely to make future budget cuts.

Here's how Trump's budget will affect key areas.

Taxes

Whether the typical American family will pay less taxes under Trump is not yet known. The White House issued only one page of its tax plan outline. There are so few details that even tax policy experts cannot figure out whether the middle class will win or lose. The only thing that is known - Trump and other rich people will pay much less taxes.

Tax rates for businesses and individuals will drop. Budget also eliminates surcharge ObamaCare for wealthy investors. Perhaps the biggest gift to the rich is the elimination of the estate tax. Right now, it only applies to estates over $5,5 million, but Trump wants to get rid of it entirely.

Immigration

The budget traces Trump's promises to combat illegal immigration by building a wall along the south-western border with Mexico and increasing control over immigration laws throughout the country.

The Department of Homeland Security will receive $44,1 billion, up 6,7% from the previous year. This includes a $1,7 billion increase to track, incarcerate and deport undocumented immigrants; $300 million will be allocated to hire 1 new federal immigration agents; $500 billion to expand and improve the border wall. “We take the wall absolutely seriously,” Mulvaney said.

The Justice Department will also get more money to hire 75 new immigration judges and help clear years of backlogs in the nation's immigration courts. But one cut that is sure to upset police chiefs and sheriffs across the country is a reduction in Department of Justice grants that have long helped local departments. Those grants would be cut from $1,1 billion in 2017 to $636 million, including eliminating a subsidy paid to local jails that house undocumented immigrants.

Food stamps

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, has one of the biggest cuts, $190 billion over 10 years. Mulvaney said the cuts are intended to increase the size of the working-age population through the program.

Education

Trump's proposed 13% reduction in the Department of Education includes the elimination of a post-school and summer education program worth $ 1,2 billion. The White House states that "there is no convincing evidence of achieving its goals, such as improving student performance." And he would cut art programs, foreign languages, basic literacy, and teacher training programs.

Trump is also proposing to cut child care benefits for low-income parents attending college and eliminate a fund that oversees anti-bullying programs and STEM courses. It would maintain the same level of funding—$492 million—for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving colleges.

He will also put an end to the college debt forgiveness plan, in which college graduates engaged in public sector career activities may forget about their overdue federal loans.

Trump will use some of the savings to spend more on the priority choice of private and public schools.

National defense

The $ 639 billions for military spending will allow the Pentagon to strengthen its ranks with more than 56 thousands of troops, buy more helicopters and trucks for the army, increase fleets, and pay for invisible military aircraft for the Air Force.

The White House, citing a more dangerous world, proposed a budget that exceeds the Pentagon’s bid last year by $ 582 billion.

According to the 2018 spending plan for the year, the Pentagon will spend $ 603 billion on weapons and everyday expenses and $ 65 billion on the war against the Islamic State in the Middle East and the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Ecology

No agency took a bigger hit than the Environmental Protection Agency, a favorite target of President Trump and Republicans who say the EPA epitomizes the over-regulation that characterized the Obama era.

The EPA budget will be reduced from $ 8,2 billion to $ 5,7 billion, or 31%. To a greater extent, this concerns programs that control and regulate climate change. Less controversial programs would also demonstrate significant reductions, including the disposal of toxic waste (30%), grants to help states monitor and comply with federal water and air standards (45%), as well as a program to identify and repair underground fuel leaks.

The Trump administration also eliminates at least 10 regional EPA programs, including the Great Lakes, Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay, created to restore a fragile environment in vulnerable areas.

Farm programs

In the next decade, federal crop subsidy programs will be reduced by more than one-third, which is unlikely to please farm states, for which subsidies are a guarantee of security in the amount of $ 8 billion a year. It will also completely eliminate the Rural Economic Development Program, saving $ 6 million in the first year and $ 154 million in all the following years.

It is expected that some additional income will be obtained through the introduction of fees for food safety, animal and plant health and marketing services in agriculture, resulting in $ 10 million for 350 years.

Law enforcement authorities

Highlighted by the massive increase in immigration and the enforced enforcement of crime laws, the Department of Justice’s budget proposal, which amounts to nearly $ 28 billion, reflects some of the most popular topics of the Trump administration campaign.

At least 300 federal prosecutors will join the department's ranks, with the bulk of the new positions - 230 - detailed to help with violent crimes. The remaining 70 prosecutors will be appointed as part of enhanced border security.

However, the total budget request is a reduction of almost 4%. Nevertheless, one noteworthy program was eliminated: the State Program of Assistance to Foreign Citizens in the Fight against Crime. The program was designed to reimburse local authorities for assistance in deportation operations.

Energetics

The Department of Energy will face a cut in funding of 5,6%. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which supports the national nuclear arsenal, on the contrary, will see an increase in budgeting by 11,4%. But all other energy programs are aimed at reducing by 18%, including the Science Department, which funds energy research.

In addition, the Trump administration proposes to increase government revenues by selling half of the country's emergency oil reserves. Budget projects will generate $ 500 million in 2018 and $ 16,5 billion over the next 10 years. The administration is also proposing to increase government revenues by allowing drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Both proposals may face stiff resistance in Congress.

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