President Donald Trump, in his first presidential address to congress, proposed his budgetary plan that is going to change the amount of funding agencies will be receiving in the future. Trump says that the goal of the plan is to increase national security by raising the level of funding for the military and agencies related with immigration, staying in line with his “America First” platform.

The president will ask congress to expand the military’s budget by 10 percent, which would be around $54 million.  Also part of this spending increase would go towards the hiring of more Border Patrol agents and customs officers for U.S. Immigration.  

Just as noteworthy as this extremely high level of increase are the corresponding cuts that will affect agencies such as the EPA and USAID. These cuts and increases represent the largest and most significant changes since the Regan administration. As like many other decisions by the administration, Trump’s budgetary moves are leaving some concerned.

“The fight to protect our environment and to promote diplomacy would instantly be stonewalled with these budget cuts,” said Michael Smith, sophomore majoring in economics and external affairs director for UA College Democrats.

However, even with Democrats and some others concerned about what these budget changes could mean for the country, a poll conducted by CNN and ORC shows that 70 percent of speechwriters believed that Trump increased national optimism with his speech.  Members of the media, including at CNN, claimed that this was his best speech in his short tenure as president.

For students involved in ROTC or planning on joining the military after college, Trump’s increase in spending could bode well for them. But his willingness ignore diplomatic norms may be enough to stir worry amongst some. 

“I could only assume that ROTC members feel reassured that they have a Commander in Chief who will do his best to properly fund our soldiers,” said Cameron Mixon, sophomore majoring in political science and history and vice chairman of UA College Republicans.

One thing Trump is making abundantly clear is he views the military as important, as for other agencies, they will be taking anywhere from a 10 percent to a 25 percent hit on their funding. The proposed budget plan will continue to be debated by a congress controlled by Republicans in both houses.