Trump's budget plan sends a 'very powerful message': Budget chief
Trump's budget director appeared on "Good Morning America."
— -- President Trump's budget plan sends a "very powerful message" that he wants to move spending "from overseas to back in this country," Mick Mulvaney, the administration's Office of Management and Budget director, said on ABC's "Good Morning America" today.
"It's the president doing exactly what he said he would do when he ran," Mulvaney told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos. "What you see in this budget is exactly what the president ran on."
Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman and a favorite of tea party Republicans, was sworn in earlier this month after being narrowly confirmed, in a 51-49 vote, by the GOP-controlled Senate.
Stephanopoulos asked Mulvaney if the president will try to reduce the federal deficit and how he could do that if he greatly boosts military spending without touching Social Security or Medicare.
Mulvaney said that will require "bigger discussions for another day."
Trump's budget blueprint, which is being sent to Congress for review, proposes a $54 billion increase in defense spending, with cuts to foreign aid and domestic programs.
"This budget will be a public safety and national security budget," he told the National Governors Association on Monday. He said the budget will include an increase in "all spending for federal law enforcement."
Administration officials have stressed that the budget plan is merely a first draft and shell of what it will send Congress in a formal budget request next month.
ABC News' Alexander Nallin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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