WASHINGTON, May 23-- The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled its first full budget that would cut 3.6 trillion U.S. dollars in government spending over the next 10 years to balance the federal budget. "The first step is to bring federal spending under control and return the federal budget to balance within 10 years. Deficit spending has become an ingrained part of the culture in the nation's capital," the administration said in its budget for fiscal year 2018, which starts from Oct.1, 2017. The budget, which was titled "A New Foundation for American Greatness", claims to eliminate the federal deficit by the end of the decade through faster economic growth and deep cuts in Medicaid payments, food stamps and disability benefits. Calling it "a taxpayer-first budget", Mick Mulvaney, Director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, said the administration would place great weight on the interests of taxpayers rather than those who need government help. "We're no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs or the number of people on those programs, but by the number of people we help get off those programs," Mulvaney said Tuesday at a press briefing. Funding for Medicaid, the health care program for low-income and disabled Americans, would be cut by more than 800 billion U.S. dollar over 10 years, while the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides benefits to about 44 million people, would be cut by about 193 billion dollars, according to the budget. |