President Donald Trump revealed plans to increase defense spending by $54 billion. He and his staff said the proposed increase would come from cuts to other programs.

In his address to a joint session of Congress, the president revealed more details about his budget. He shows a desire to curtail regulators like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and to fund infrastructure projects. Trump has also expressed support for space exploration. The different parts of the plans were announced February 27, February 28, March 1 and March 3.

“American footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream,” said Trump to Congress.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) may avoid budget cuts and may actually get a budget increase. However, regulators will receive budget cuts. In 2014, NASA received $17.6 billion, which is a tiny fraction of the federal budget. The total for discretionary spending, or spending that Congress has to approve every year, was over one trillion dollars in 2014.

“Space exploration is certainly important, but I do not think it’s more important than… before we go to other places we need to keep our earth alive.” said Michelle Dunbar, senior.

In the President’s speech to Congress, he said he wanted to “slash at the restraints.” He is following through on this, as the Washington Post has reported that the president plans to cut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget from $8.2 billion to $6.1 billion. As part of this, one fifth of the EPA staff will be cut.

“ Most of these programs are scraping by and do not need to be cut,” said Dunbar.

Trump also expressed a desire to pass a bill funding a concept known as ‘school choice’. This would imply an increase in education funding, but also could divert funds away from public schools. This is because a school choice program could help parents pay for private school tuition, for example. In 2014, the Department of Education received $67.3 billion in funding.

“I feel like there are better ways to spend that money,” said Dunbar.

Trump has also made his desire to invest in infrastructure spending known. “The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding,” said the President in his address. This may indicate increased funding for the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). In 2014, USDOT received $13.6 billion dollars in funding.

“We certainly could use better roads,” said Dunbar.

Another proposed budget change is a 17 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“The ocean, that’s a lot of the earth, and that’s important. They need as much money as they can get,” said Dunbar.

These are proposals, not the final budget. Citizens who want to change the budget or proposals can contact their representative in Congress. Senators and representatives may have differing ideas from the president on how to budget the nation.