Budget chief Russ Vought said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump planned to boost spending on the country’s nuclear programme.
The acting director of the Office of Management and Budget told broadcaster Fox News ahead of the expected release of Trump’s 2021 budget proposal.
“It includes within that 1 per cent increase for defence a 20 per cent increase for nuclear modernisation and the important work that’s being done in (the National Nuclear Security Administration),” Vought said.
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He added: “We continue to request additional funds’’ for a wall at the U.S. Mexico border, the construction of which was one of Trump’s top campaign promises.
The budget is a proposal to Congress and is expected to be largely brushed aside by lawmakers who hold the purse strings.
Trump’s plan would include massive cuts to major domestic and safety-net programmes, as well as foreign aid, U.S. media reported ahead of its release.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, said on Sunday that “once again the president is showing just how little he values the good health, financial security and well-being of hard-working American families.’’
The budget plan sets out the Trump administration’s policy priorities heading into the November presidential elections and sets up a stark contrast with Trump’s rivals as Democrats vie to gain their party’s nomination.