President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday is set to release its “skinny” budget blueprint that outlines topline spending figures from the White House, which is expected to reflect a bigger request for the defense budget.
Senior officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) exclusively told FOX Business that the overall discretionary budget will be $1.7 trillion. The discretionary budget excludes spending on Medicare and Medicaid, as well as Social Security and interest on the debt.
The defense budget is expected to surpass the $1 trillion threshold overall for the first time, reaching $1.16 trillion. That includes $892.6 billion in discretionary spending plus $119.3 billion in mandatory spending, which are reflected in the skinny budget, as well as an additional $150 billion to be passed in an upcoming reconciliation bill.
The senior officials said that this is where the Trump administration can get creative in getting the budget approved by Congress. Republican majorities have historically been forced to offer one-to-one increases in non-defense spending to secure increases in defense spending.
However, by keeping discretionary defense spending at $892.6 billion, the same level as fiscal year 2025, the budget that would be presented to Democrats would essentially reflect an unchanged defense discretionary budget with a smaller non-defense discretionary budget of about $557 billion – a 22.6% decrease.
The White House and congressional Republicans then plan to pursue another $150 billion in mandatory defense spending through the budget reconciliation process that’s linked to the tax cut package.
That $150 billion in addition to the $119.3 billion in the skinny budget would bring the total increase in defense spending to about 13.4%, rising to roughly $1.16 trillion.
All departments were asked to provide budget cuts except for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Transportation, which were excluded to protect veterans’ services as well as NASA and space exploration programs.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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