President Donald Trump plans to send Congress a budget request April 3, detailing his policy and funding wish list for the fiscal year that begins in October, according to a spokesperson for the White House budget office.
It’s unclear whether the president will also submit a supplemental military funding request at the same time, to aid the military in the U.S. conflict in Iran. For more than a week, the White House has been reviewing a Pentagon request for about $200 billion in emergency cash to support new military action in the Middle East.
Trump already called in January for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a $500 billion increase from the Pentagon’s current funding levels.
The president’s budget is scheduled to arrive on Capitol Hill almost nine weeks after it was due Feb. 2. Though the fiscal blueprint is nonbinding, top appropriators in both parties have expressed frustration with the delay, since they rely on the framework to begin writing the dozen annual funding bills Congress must pass by Sept. 30.
