President Trump’s budget for the fiscal year 2018 calls for the eventual elimination of funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, a proposal that was expected and will likely lead to a furious round of lobbying to save the agency this summer. (Variety)
It also proposes eventually scrapping the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund PBS and National Public Radio. The budget aims to cut federal spending by $4.5 trillion over the next 10 years. (Deadline)
The budget would also cut deeply into programs for the poor, from healthcare and food stamps to student loans and disability payments, laying out an austere vision for reordering the nation’s priorities. It calls for an increase in military spending of 10 percent and spending more than $2.6 billion for border security—including $1.6 billion to begin work on a wall on the border with Mexico—as well as huge tax reductions and an improbable promise of 3 percent economic growth. (NYT)
The proposal has also roiled the medical and science community with a call for massive cuts in spending on scientific research, medical research, disease prevention programs and health insurance for children of the working poor. The administration would cut the overall National Institutes of Health budget from $31.8 billion to $26 billion. (WaPo)