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Trump’s trillion-dollar 2020 budget proposal; a second Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes.
Trump’s 2020 budget proposal
Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
President Trump announced his 2020 budget proposal on Monday. The White House wants to increase the defense budget by $750 billion and cut billions of dollars for social and scientific programs. [The Hill / Niv Elis]
There’s a lot in there — including the wall. The budget includes $8.6 billion for a wall on the US-Mexico border. Democrats on Capitol Hill have already said they won’t vote for it. [Jim Tankersley and Michael Tackett]
Trump’s budget is set with the condition that the economy will grow by 3 percent over the next 10 years due to the new tax bill — but experts say this is an unrealistic estimate. The proposal is also likely to expand the government deficit by about $1.1 trillion. [Politico / Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtes]
Think of the budget as a road map for Trump’s priorities heading into the presidential election. If the budget were enacted, Medicaid would be hit by $1.5 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years and Medicare would lose $845 billion. Other programs hit include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the student loan program. [Vox / Tara Golshan]
It’s important to remember that the budget serves as more of a priorities list, and lawmakers don’t necessarily have to follow it when they actually appropriate money to federal programs. [WSJ / Kate Davidson]
Even so, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Energy Department responded with fear and frustration to the proposed cuts to scientific research. [Washington Post / Joel Achenbach, Ben Guarino, and Sarah Kaplan]
Empty seats at a meeting in Nairobi
A moment of silence was held as the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly opened on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya. Twenty-two of the 157 victims of Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines ET302 crash were UN employees. More than 4,000 delegates are in Nairobi for the week to discuss environmental solutions. [UN Environment]
The flight crashed Sunday morning, only six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All passengers and crew members on board were killed. The victims represented 35 countries, including 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, and eight people each from China and the United States. The flight’s pilot was highly experienced, and the plane had gone through maintenance checks. [NPR / Bill Chappell]
This is not the first time a Max 8 has crashed. The same model flown by Lion Air crashed in Indonesia in October, killing 189 people. Both China and Indonesia ordered all their airlines to ground 737 Max 8 planes on Monday — but the US did not, and frequent Max 8 users like Southwest Airlines and American Airlines flew the planes Monday. [Vox / Gaby Del Valle]
The 737 is a highly popular commercial aircraft … so should we be worried? Statistically, airplane crashes are extremely rare. Experts now have to determine if the Max 8 — an update just different enough from prior versions that it includes new software, and not so different that pilots and crew have to retrain — was to blame. [Atlantic / James Fallows]
Miscellaneous
Milwaukee will host the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Wisconsin beat out other cities because it’s an important spot for candidates; the state went red in the 2016 election. [Dan Merica and Jeff Zeleny]
A former staffer for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has accused the senator’s office of mishandling a sexual harassment complaint. The aide resigned last year after, she said, her complaint wasn’t handled appropriately, and the accused staffer continued to work for Gillibrand until last week. The senator, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has been a leader on #MeToo investigations. [Politico / Alex Thompson and Daniel Strauss]
Pittsburgh is one of many US cities proposing new gun laws. The city’s new rules would make it illegal to carry assault weapons in public and would prohibit the sale of weapons or ammunition in the city. The measures are a reaction to the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, but African Americans in the city fear the new laws could make them vulnerable to police discrimination or criminalization. [CityLab / Brentin Mock]
P&G is acquiring black-owned brands with large followings, but the conglomerate may turn away loyal customers who want to support minority-owned businesses. [WSJ / Aisha Al-Muslim]
That electric scooter lying on the sidewalk may be the next threat to data privacy. City safety officials want to know location information for dockless vehicles, but scooter companies have debated providing access to users’ movement. [Politico / Jeremy B. White]