An essential element is missing from President Donald Trump's plan for boosting the budgets of the U.S. military services by $54 billion in 2018. Trump's proposed defense budget of $639 billion, which includes $65 billion for ongoing emergency war-fighting, totals more than the next seven countries combined. The Trump budget makes no specific mention of Iran, North Korea or China. He envisions defense spending increasing steadily in the coming years, culminating with an $800 billion budget for the armed forces in 2022. "I think we make a mistake as Republicans when we say it's OK to plus-up (defense) spending and decrease everything else without really looking closely."

Source: ABC News March 17, 2017 08:11 UTC