Trump's budget plan to boost defense spending by $54 billion

Pool/Olivier Douliery via Associated Press

United States President Donald Trump speaks during a listening session with manufacturing CEOs in the State Dining Room of the White House on February 23, 2017 in Washington, DC.

Republican President Donald Trump will seek to boost Pentagon spending by $54 billion in his first budget proposal and cut the same amount from non-defense spending, including a large reduction in foreign aid, a White House budget official said on Monday.

The Associated Press reported that Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget would decrease funding to the Environmental Protection Agency and some programs at the State Department.

Trump will let the Department of Defense decide how to spend the extra billions and most federal agencies will see reductions in funding, an official from the Office of Management and Budget told reporters. The official said Trump's first budget will not address taxes or mandatory spending.

"We're going to do more with less and make the government lean and accountable," Trump said in a meeting with governors in which he said he planned to propose a substantial increase in public safety spending.

Trump referenced his involvement in deals with Lockheed Martin's F-35 program and Boeing's proposal for a new Air Force One as examples of cutting government costs.

US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein recenly wrote a collum in Defense One saying the Air Force had been sapped of readiness and funds over 26 years of global operations and four years under a sequester budget. Goldfein said the Air Force "urgently" needed funds by April, to "restores and rebuilds our nation's Air Force."

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of US F/A-18s currently can't fly because of budget cuts that led to a backlog on maintenance and sourcing new parts, Defense News reports. The Marine Times similarly reports that more than half of the Marine Corps' planes couldn't fly in December.

Trump's proposed budget is subject to congressional approval.