President Donald Trump on Feb. 27 said he would propose a budget that would ramp up spending on defense, but seek savings elsewhere to pay for it. (Reuters)Achieving a smaller federal budget is very easy, once you take the politics out of it. If you were tasked with cutting the budget and if you didn’t have to worry about the repercussions of those cuts, simple. Most of the budget is eaten up by three things: defense, Medicare and Social Security, all things that people pretty broadly like. Can you increase the military by 10 percent, protect security programs — and still make the numbers work?

Source: Washington Post February 27, 2017 20:03 UTC