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Budget lands with thud

President Donald Trumps budget plan is hitting lots of congressional Republicans where they and their voters live, reports Newsdays Emily Ngo.

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), for one, doesnt like what he sees so far in the Homeland Security budget, which eliminates or reduces state and local grant funding by $667 million.

Any reduction to NY & LI is dead on arrival, he tweeted.

While many Republicans favor the sharp boost in military spending, some of the deep cuts to domestic programs --including widely popular items like medical research --are a harder sell to them and face strong Democratic opposition.

Big reductions for diplomacy and foreign aid also strike members of both parties as self-defeating for national security.

Budget chief Mick Mulvaney said, Folks who voted for the president are getting exactly what they voted for. He called Meals on Wheels the kind of social program that is just not showing any results --serving up a tasty sound bite to foes of the cuts.

The current U.S. defense budget, nearly $600 billion, is already almost as much as the next 14 nations combined. Yet experts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies see Russia and China closing the technology gap.

Trump now wants to commmit $54 billion more for the military, but how it is spent --and not wasted --holds the key to whether it would strengthen U.S. security, Newsdays Dan Janison writes.

For its plan to secure the Mexican border, the Trump administration has already called for more guns --thousands of additional law enforcement officers --and more money, including billions to start building the wall.

Now they want lawyers, too. Trumps budget calls for hiring 20 of them for legal efforts to acquire private land--seizing properties by eminent domain, if necessary --so there are places to build the barrier. Another 20 lawyers would be added for immigration litigation assistance.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that military action against North Korea is "on the table" if the country continued to develop its weapons program.

Regardless of what table he may have been referring to, Tillerson issued the warning while visiting South Korea.

"If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action then that option is on the table," he told reporters.

"Certainly we do not want for things to get to a military conflict," he added. "But obviously if North Korea takes actions that threaten the South Korean forces or our own forces then that would be met with an appropriate response."

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said they see no indications Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016.

The statement by Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) echoed those from House counterparts a day earlier.

But Trump isnt giving up on his accusation against former President Barack Obama. He stands by it, said Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who angrily read off a list of clippings --none of them with actual evidence for Trumps claim --as well as speculation by a Fox News commentator that Obama outsourced the surveillance job to Britains spy agency.

See Newsdays story by Tom Brune and Emily Ngo.

A key congressional committee narrowly approved a Republican health care bill Thursday, but three GOP no votes exposed GOP divisions over the plan to replace Obamacare, Newsdays Yancey Roy reports.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has conceded the bill would have to be altered before winning congressional approval. Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon: Great progress on healthcare. Improvements being made --Republicans coming together!

There are many great Irish proverbs. After his White House meeting with Irish Prime Minister Endy Kenny, Trump celebrated the U.S.-Ireland friendship with one of the more obscure ones, with allusions to grudges and betrayal.

Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you, Trump said.

Perhaps he forgot what he told Michigans Republican governor, Rick Snyder, a day earlier as the president coaxed him into a photo op, even though you didnt endorse me. As the cameras clicked, Trump added, I never forget.

Originally posted here:
Trump's budget gets the side-eye from plenty of Republicans - Newsday