By a vote of 72 to 27, Wilbur Ross was confirmed by the Senate Monday to become the next Secretary of Commerce.
Category: Administration
An Increase of $54 Billion for Defense and Corresponding Cuts to Non-Defense Programs Sought
In its initial proposal outlining the Administration’s budget goals for FY2018, the White House is seeking an increase of $54 billion to $603 billion overall for defense programs. To maintain the overall topline budget number, the Administration is seeking offsets in non-defense related programs.
Federal Relations continues to monitor developments on this front.
Administration Budget Proposal to Call for Increase in Defense, Cuts to Domestic Programs
The Trump White House will send today to the federal agencies its draft FY2018 budget proposal that will seek increases for defense and veterans’ programs while looking to cut domestic programs. The proposal being shared with the agencies today will only address the discretionary programs — those that must be funded through the annual appropriations process—and will not touch the mandatory programs, like Social Security and Medicare. Those issues will be handled in the larger budget request that will be released later in March.
The call for increases in defense and veterans’ programs, as well as funding for a new border wall, without raising the overall level of discretionary spending would force sizable cuts to non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs. Under the current law, the overall FY2018 discretionary spending level is set at $1.064 trillion, with $549 billion for defense and $515.4 billion for NDD programs. Democrats have insisted on “parity” with respect to budget increases, arguing that increases to defense must be tied to increases in NDD programs, and are likely to raise serious objections to this budget outline. As noted above, a budget framework containing proposals on mandatory programs will be released in March.
Federal Relations will provide further details as they become available.
DeVos Takes on “Education Establishment”
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 23, the new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stated that higher education faculty tell students what to say and what to think. Her prepared speech reads, in part:
The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think. They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree.
The entire speech is available on the Department of Education website.
Release of New Immigration Executive Order Pushed Back
Despite statements earlier from the Administration that it would release the next executive order (EO) on immigration this week, the White House announced February 22 that the new EO will not be released until next week.