The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2018, entitled “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again”, was released on March 16th, recommending a wide range of deep cuts and the elimination of many programs in order to balance a recommended $54 billion increase in defense spending. This year’s budget as prepared by the Office of Management and Budget in a 53-page document is a generalized presentation, providing recommended budget amounts for many broad budget categories and not necessarily for every program and agency. A more detailed President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 is to be released in May.
A major cut in this year’s President’s Budget is the complete elimination of funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which is authorized at the $300 million level but which is allocated no funding for 2018. GLRI funds are utilized across 17 or more federal programs and agencies, and is regarded as critical to the future health of the Great Lakes.
This preliminary analysis of the President’s Budget for 2018 highlights the President’s recommended funding level for programs and agencies of particular importance to the Northeast-Midwest Region and the Great Lakes. A more complete overview of the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 will follow as additional information becomes available which is projected for May 2017.
To view NEMWI’s preliminary analysis of the President’s Budget for 2018 based on the Office of Management and Budget report, click here.
For more information, contact Michael Goff, President and CEO of the Northeast-Midwest Institute, and Matthew McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
Featured image credit goes to Joshua Roberts of Reuters.