WASHINGTON _ If Donald Trump promised something on the campaign trail, chances are you will see it in his first budget.
Military and border security would increase dramatically. Aid to public broadcasting would be eliminated. Programs combating global warming would be slashed. And $4.1 billion would be spent on a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump's first budget will be unveiled Thursday, offering Americans an opportunity to understand his priorities as president.
"We wrote it using the president's own words," said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget. "We went through his speeches. We went through articles that have been written about his policies. We talked to him. We wanted to know what his policies were. And we turned those policies into numbers."
Trump will attempt to shrink the size of the federal government, eliminate redundant programs, make agencies more efficient and get rid of waste, his aides say.
"I want the American people to know that our budget will reflect their priorities," Trump said recently. "We'll be directing all of our departments and agencies to protect every last American and every last tax dollar. No more wasted money."
In some cases, aides say, Trump will cut programs only to later create his own. For example, he plans to reduce money for some infrastructure projects at the Department of Transportation in the budget but unveil his own package later in the year.
Even some Republicans looking for a strong commitment to infrastructure from the Trump administration may be surprised by the initial cuts.
"Our lack of investment in infrastructure has consequences both in terms of safety and our ability to compete in the global economy," said Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican.
"There isn't a town or county in Kansas that doesn't have a problem with a road or a bridge," said Moran, noting that the problem has been exacerbated by the state's budget problems.
The spending proposal for the 2018 fiscal year, which begins on Oct.1, includes a $54 billion increase in defense spending, which would require Congress to end defense-spending caps agreed to in 2011. This increase in defense spending, most of which is predetermined, would be offset by cuts in programs that lawmakers have a say over, so-called discretionary spending.
The document is merely a blueprint _ or what's dubbed a skinny budget _ with a more detailed document being released in May, a common practice for presidents in their first year. Trump also will release a budget making funding requests for the remaining months of the current fiscal year.
The first Trump budget will not reflect a balanced budget nor a significant reduction in the federal deficit, Mulvaney said. That's because it will not tackle the real drivers of increased government spending _ Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Roughly 75 million baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are reaching retirement age and straining those government programs. Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would not make changes to those programs, held dear by older Americans, an active group of voters.
Trump's fellow Republicans control both chambers of Congress but even so lawmakers are expected to move forward with their own budget blueprint this spring as they traditionally have done. Still, their plan is likely to reflect Trump's priorities. Democrats will oppose many of the cuts and will likely insist that similar caps on domestic spending be eliminated.
"This is the 'America first' budget," Mulvaney said. "You had the 'America first' candidate and you have the 'America first' budget."
Mulvaney provided only limited information in advance of the budget's official release, declining repeatedly to go into detail in part because he said department and agency heads had broad authority to determine where and whom to cut. He would not estimate how the reductions might affect the federal workforce.
"We give them a tremendous amount of flexibility in their own agencies this year," he said.
But recent reports have predicted deep cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Internal Revenue Service.
In response to a question about HUD, Mulvaney said its programs had had limited success. "There are a lot of programs that simply can't justify their existence," he said
Mulvaney acknowledged that the State Department would be cut by 28 percent, in part because of a reduction in foreign aid. Foreign aid amounts to just roughly 1 percent of federal spending, and many of the programs it funds are considered important to U.S. national security.
"It's not a commentary on the president's policies toward the State Department," Mulvaney said. "It's a commentary toward what's in their State Department budget."
The Department of Defense budget would increase 10 percent. The Department of Homeland Security budget would increase 6 percent, including the Coast Guard, which had been rumored to be cut. More money will be spent generally on law enforcement and on public and private school choice.
"The president was very clear he wants to send a message to our allies and our potential adversaries that this is a strong-power administration. You will see money move from soft-power programs, such as foreign aid, into more hard-power programs."
Trump wants to spend $1.5 billion this year and $2.6 billion next year on the border wall, which could cost $20 billion or more. Mulvaney said he didn't know exactly what that would pay for because the project is still in the planning stages.
"We haven't settled on construction types," Mulvaney said. "We haven't settled on where we are going to start. Funding provides for a couple different pilot cases, different kind of barriers in different types of cases, as we try to find the most cost efficient, the safest and also the most effective border protection."
