Washington Edition: Trump’s war-time budget

I'm Jonathan Tamari, senior Washington reporter for Bloomberg Government, and each weekday I'll be coming to you with inside-the-room reporting and insights that reveal what's really happening in Washington—and how it impacts you. Email me with feedback and comments here. If this newsletter was forwarded to you sign up here.

Today, Trump lays out his spending goals, Bondi's exit, and no college degree = no problem for federal hiring.

Trump's Priorities

In the airy world of political science, budgets are often described as statements of values.

Donald Trump's budget request for the next fiscal year will likely show a couple of pretty blunt values:

1. He's got little use for Congress
2. He loves military stuff

The first full-fledged spending plan of Trump's second term is scheduled to come out today, and one thing everyone expects is a huge bump for the armed forces – even before adding the money needed to cover the costs of the war in Iran.

The plans are typically just starting points for Congress, and the most drastic ideas are often discarded. But they show in hard numbers what a president wants to put money into, and what he wants to chuck. 

Sending over a proposal on a holiday Friday while Congress is in a two-week recess suggests Trump isn't much interested in lawmakers' reactions. The plan will be the latest sent by a president since 2013, at the start of Barack Obama's second term. (Trump, like most first-year presidents, released a more limited budget last year.)

• What will be in it: Trump has floated a $1.5 trillion national security topline, potentially a 50% increase. A key Republican expects the $200 billion request mulled for the war to arrive separately, per BGOV's budget ace Ken Tran.
• What won't be in it: It isn't expected to include long-term deficit projections, despite Trump's vows to mop up red ink, Erik Wasson and Gregory Korte report. That will come later. Also, the economic projections are probably already outdated due to the shocks still rippling from the war.
• Watch for: Key details about planned military spending, including budgets for each branch, which won't arrive until April 21, reports Tony Capaccio.

Trump's first-year budget called for a 13% increase in national security spending and a 17% cut in domestic programs, demonstrating in black-and-white where his priorities lie.

Photographer: SAUL LOEB/AFP

It called for (remember the chainsaw?) cutting health, science, clean energy, and foreign aid, among other programs. Congress rejected many of those ideas, but the broad expectation is that Trump will again look to slash domestic programs.

For a man who vowed to be the "peace president," he has instead invested much of his second term in building and brandishing military power. 

He's reveled in the pageantry of a military parade, rebranded the Department of War, and relished the instant gratification of strikes on Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iran (last year, at least), all without the slog of passing bills or cutting regulations.

It all fits Trump's vision of a world governed by strength, where the only sensible path to power is being the biggest and toughest of all.

The federal government, he said at a White House event this week, can't "take care of day care" or other domestic programs he derided as "little scams." Aides said the comments were taken out of context, but his next point was clear.

"We have to take care of one thing," he said, "military protection."

Top News

Pam Bondi's replacement as attorney general is expected to push even harder for Trump's agenda, including prosecuting his adversaries, lawyers told Ben Penn and Celine Castronuovo. Meanwhile, the interim leader is a trusted Trump ally. Until recently the administration had avoided the chaotic cabinet turnover that characterized the first term, but Politico is reporting that other cabinet changes may be afoot at Commerce and Labor.

Iran targeted more sites in Arab Gulf states overnight and into Friday, hours after Trump issued fresh threats against Iranian infrastructure to pressure Tehran to start peace negotiations.

The White House is moving to strip education requirements for more than 600 federal jobs, aiming to open doors for people without college degrees, Ian Kullgren reports. It would amount to a generational shift in how federal employees are recruited and hired.

China is probing another member of its Politburo, a sign President Xi Jinping is widening his anti-corruption campaign. Xi has now effectively ousted three Politburo members, after launching probes into China's top two generals. It's the widest purge of the decision-making Politburo in a single term since the Cultural Revolution.

SpaceX boosted its target IPO valuation above $2 trillion, Bloomberg scooped, as the world's most valuable startup gears up to pitch potentially the biggest-ever market debut.

The Ivy League's ban on athletic scholarships survived an appellate court challenge. Student athletes had argued that the ban violated anti-trust rules and forced them to pay more for an elite education.

Watch This

Listen Here

Bloomberg Tax's Erin Schilling and Erin Slowey speak with David Schultz about how the IRS is handling its first full filing season since DOGE slashed a quarter of its staff. Listen here and subscribe to Talking Tax on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Megaphone, or Audible.

Go Deeper With BGOV

Congress has until April 20 to extend electronic surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but friction over warrantless collection of Americans' data could prevent quick action, BGOV's Greg Tourial writes in a new OnPoint.

What's Next

Jobs numbers for March are released

The administration releases its budget

Stock markets are closed for Good Friday

President Donald Trump's budget request will kick off another round of fiscal fights on Capitol Hill.

Join BGOV Senior National Security Reporter Roxana Tiron, Budget and Appropriations Reporter Ken Tran, and Deputy News Director Loren Duggan for a special, rapid-fire discussion on Tuesday, April 7 at 11 a.m. ET. We'll talk about the appropriations process, chances for another reconciliation bill, and what the requests mean for various parts of the government. Click here to join!

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