White House to modify budget request to reflect higher spending caps

The White House is modifying its budget request for fiscal 2019 after President Trump signed legislation Friday morning that increases spending levels, according to a senior official at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Trump’s budget request, which the administration has worked on for months, will be released on Monday. The administration had finalized a budget document that had adhered to the spending caps that were set under the law before lawmakers struck a deal this week that raised them.

The bipartisan budget deal Trump signed increases the defense discretionary spending cap by $85 billion for fiscal 2019 and the nondefense discretionary spending cap by $68 billion for the year. Fiscal 2019 starts on Oct. 1. {mosads}

When the White House releases its budget on Monday, it will also release an addendum that provides a blueprint for how to utilize the higher spending caps, the senior OMB official said.

“It will include additional [fiscal 2019] funding for a limited set of Administration priorities as well as proposals to fix certain budget gimmicks used to circumvent the spending caps,” the official said.

The budget deal also raised the spending caps for the current fiscal year. The OMB official said that, separately from its budget request and addendum, the administration will provide recommendations to Congress about how to use the higher spending caps for this year.