Trump is said to seek $716 billion in defense spending for 2019
WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump will propose increasing total defense spending to $716 billion in fiscal 2019 in his budget request expected to be released in February, a U.S. official said, backing the Pentagon's push for a major buildup.
The funding would include $597 billion for the Defense Department's base budget, with the rest going for its war-fighting account and to other government programs such as the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the release of Trump's second proposed budget.
The amount, reported earlier Friday by The Washington Post, is a sharp increase from the $668 billion Trump proposed last year for fiscal 2018 and offered as a placeholder for fiscal 2019. The plan represents a victory of defense hawks over those trying to constrain deficit spending.
_Bloomberg News
