President Donald Trump will demand an increase in military spending as part of his negotiations with Congress for a deal on the nation's budget, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.
"We could have done a one-year deal on the debt ceiling," Mnuchin said at the "Delivering Alpha" conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor, while referring to last week's deal with Democrats to extend the debt ceiling through the end of the year.
"Had we done that, it would have been linked to one year of additional funding for the government," Mnuchin continued. "But the president wants to raise military spending. The president wants to increase military spending, and that's something he's going to demand for December."
The one-year plan was not widely reported, Mnuchin said, but was an important part of the budget talks.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised that he'd build up military spending to both increase benefits for workers and to modernize the military.
The White House wants a longer-term budget deal, said Mnuchin, but will take the best it can get while avoiding a government shutdown.
"Congress has every right to control spending," he said. "If ultimately the government shuts down, which would not be a good thing, that's their right if they can't agree on a debt ceiling."
The national debt crossed $20 trillion for the first time and has increased about 1.1 percent during Trump's time in office, reports CNBC.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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