White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is holding a press briefing with reporters, her first in a month-and-a-half.
The briefing comes the same day as the release of President Trump’s proposed budget for 2020.
The $4.7 trillion budget proposal, which House Democrats have called “dead on arrival,” includes more than $8 billion in funding for border security — specifically a wall along the southwest border with Mexico.
The budget, as it is proposed, would also slash domestic spending , with EPA sustaining a 31 percent cut.
It also would allocate $80 billion for veterans, roughly a 10 percent boost from fiscal 2019, and, with an eye on defense, provides investments “in the capabilities and domains critical to future conflicts,” including space, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics.
“President Trump has somehow managed to produce a budget request even more untethered from reality than his past two,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. “This irresponsible proposal slashes investments in America’s working families to unworkable budget cap levels, resulting in cuts of 9 percent to programs like early childhood education, job training, law enforcement, safe drinking water, and scientific and medical research.”
This is the first briefing Sanders has held with reporters since Jan. 28.
