Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / White House seeks $1.5T US for defence, suggests cuts to NASA in new budget request

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White House seeks $1.5T US for defence, suggests cuts to NASA in new budget request · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: And as humans return to the Moon for the first
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  Speaker 1: time in more than fifty years, the White House is
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  Speaker 1: looking to cut resources to NASA. That proposed reduction is
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  Speaker 1: part of a defense budget blueprint that President Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: wants to increase substantially next year. So for more in
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  Speaker 1: this let's turn out to the CBC's Megan Fitzpatrick in Washington. Megan,
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  Speaker 1: what more can you tell us about Trump's budget request
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  Speaker 1: for NASA?
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  Speaker 2: Well in these documents that have now been posted today
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  Speaker 2: by the White House with Trump's various proposals for the budget.
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  Speaker 2: Those proposals will be sent to Congress. He is suggesting
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  Speaker 2: eighteen point eight billion dollars dedicated to NASA, which would
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  Speaker 2: be a reduction of about five point six billion compared
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  Speaker 2: to the twenty twenty six budget. The majority of that cut,
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  Speaker 2: about three point four billion, he suggests, would come from
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  Speaker 2: various programs that he thinks are wasteful. One of those programs,
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  Speaker 2: for example, has now as partnering with other organizations to
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  Speaker 2: use satellite data for less developed countries to use when
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  Speaker 2: planning climate change programs, for example, or to address other
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  Speaker 2: environmental threats. He's proposing cutting some programs within the STEM
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  Speaker 2: Engagement Division of NASA. Under that division, there are some
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  Speaker 2: grant programs, for example, that go to historically black colleges.
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  Speaker 2: Trump is calling these kinds of programs woke. He wants
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  Speaker 2: to see those cut. What he does want to spend
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  Speaker 2: money on within NASA is eight point five billion dollars
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  Speaker 2: for the Artemis program, which the documents say will land
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  Speaker 2: in American or American astronauts on the Moon by the
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  Speaker 2: end of twenty twenty eight. That budget request is an
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  Speaker 2: increase of seven hundred and thirty one million over last
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  Speaker 2: year's budget. And he's suggesting one hundred and seventy five
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  Speaker 2: million dollars for to help create a lunar landing station
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  Speaker 2: on the South Pool of the Moon. The base camp
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  Speaker 2: would establish US dominance on the Moon, according to these documents.
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  Speaker 2: So overall are the It's suggesting some cuts to some
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  Speaker 2: programs within NASA, a boost to others, but it all
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  Speaker 2: represents an overall reduction in the NASA budget.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. So, as you're looking through all of those details.
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  Speaker 1: While Trump is looking to make cuts at NASA, I
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  Speaker 1: mentioned he's also proposing a massive boost to defense spending.
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  Speaker 1: What's he asking for and why?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, very massive spending boost to the defense budget. He's
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  Speaker 2: requesting one point five trillion dollars for the Pentagon and
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  Speaker 2: that represents about a forty percent increase over the twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty six budget. And just to note, there are reports
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  Speaker 2: that the White House separately will be making a request
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  Speaker 2: to Congress for more money to pay specifically for the
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  Speaker 2: Iran war that of course is underweight right now, that
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  Speaker 2: would be separate funding from this budget request. This budget
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  Speaker 2: request is for the twenty twenty seven fiscal year, which
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  Speaker 2: starts in October. Now, as for why the big spending
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  Speaker 2: boosts wile, these budget documents say this added spending is
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  Speaker 2: needed to ensure that the US maintains the world's most
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  Speaker 2: powerful and capable military. It talks about needing this spending
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  Speaker 2: level to address the current global threat environment and to
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  Speaker 2: restore the readiness and lethality of the US military. Some
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  Speaker 2: specifics in terms of what this money would be spent
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  Speaker 2: on pay raises for US troops, weapons, and ammunition. It
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  Speaker 2: also mentions the Golden Dome. This is the missile defense
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  Speaker 2: system that Trump wants to build, sort of like Israel's
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  Speaker 2: Iron Dome system. There's no specific price tag though for that.
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  Speaker 2: In this budget document also billions of dollars dedicated to shipbuilding.
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  Speaker 2: As for how to pay for all this, Trump is
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  Speaker 2: suggesting reducing spending on non defense programs, and he indicated
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  Speaker 2: that when he made a speech the other day at
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  Speaker 2: the White House. Take a listen, we can't take care
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  Speaker 2: of daycare.
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  Speaker 3: We're a big country. We have fifty states, we have
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  Speaker 3: all these other people who are fighting wars. We can't
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  Speaker 3: take care of daycare. You got to let us state
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  Speaker 3: take care of daycare. And they should pay for it too.
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  Speaker 3: They should pay They have to raise their taxes, but
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  Speaker 3: they should pay for it. And we could lower our
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  Speaker 3: taxes a little bit to them to make up. But
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  Speaker 3: it's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, medicare,
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  Speaker 3: all these individual things.
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  Speaker 2: So that sort of gets to his vision here that
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  Speaker 2: he would like to see state governments and local governments
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  Speaker 2: for pay for more things rather than the federal government.
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  Speaker 2: Now this is all again a proposal. This goes to Congress.
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  Speaker 2: Congress is they're the ones that make up the budget bill.
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  Speaker 2: Through a lot of negotiation that will take place over
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  Speaker 2: the next couple of months. It will be interesting to
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  Speaker 2: see the reception to this given the huge boost that
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  Speaker 2: he wants to defense spending, and given how massive the
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  Speaker 2: debt and deficit are right now.
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  Speaker 1: Too, no kidding, Thanks for this, Meghan. That is the
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  Speaker 1: CBC's Megan Fitzpatrick in Washington,