Small Wars Journal

Trump Appears to Call for Defense Spending Cuts

Fri, 10/19/2018 - 5:56am

Trump Appears to Call for Defense Spending Cuts by Aaron Mehta - Defense News

In a surprise announcement, U.S. President Donald Trump has called for government spending to be cut 5 percent across every federal department, leaving next year’s military budget in confusion.

“I would like you to come back with a 5 percent cut,” Trump told members of his Cabinet during a Tuesday meeting. “Get rid of the fat, get rid of the waste, I’m sure you can do it. I’m sure everybody at this table can do it. It’ll have a huge impact.”

Trump was specifically asked about the Pentagon’s budget by a reporter and did not say the department would be exempt. However, he did say the department’s budget "will probably be $700 billion” for fiscal 2020, noting that “because now that we have our military taken care of, we have our law enforcement taken care of, we can do things that we really weren’t in a position to do when I first came.”…

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