Donald Trump has been accused of proposing a budget for the “military industrial complex and the billionaire class”, after the White House released details of a plan that would cut spending on welfare and education while boosting money for the military and a border wall. The $4.7 trillion (£3.5 trillion) budget proposal, which is all but certain to be rejected by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and once again put the president on a collision course with congress over his demand for a border fence, called for an overhaul of Medicare, Medicaid and other expensive social programmes. It was a similar demand – rejected by Democrats – that recently led to a five-week government shutdown after the president refused to agree a spending plan that did not include such a measure.
