Federal budget to be released mid-March, Pentagon expects nearly $750B

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. government's budget for fiscal year 2020 is expected to be released beginning on March 11, the Department of Defense expecting a spending plan in the range of $750 billion.

Although no formal announcement has been made, White House officials notified legislators that summaries of President Donald Trump's message and top priorities will be released on March 11 or 12.

Details of the budget, including the full Pentagon proposal, are expected in mid-March, according to senior Office of Management and Budget officials and Senate staffers.

Senate staffers have said that proposed spending cuts, detailed agency budgets and an analytic perspectives document to include the economic assumptions underlying the budget, will be released about a week later, on March 18.

The White House is required to submit a budget proposal to Congress by the first Monday in February, in this case Feb. 4, but the 35-day partial shutdown of the government is responsible for the delay. Most OMB staffers were temporarily out of work during the shutdown.

The Pentagon's budget request will be the first under acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, and is expected to be similar to that of fiscal year 2019. Shanahan has said he intends to maintain the priorities of the National Defense Strategy similar to those of his predecessor, James Mattis.

A $733 billion defense budget had been planned for fiscal year 2020 until Trump announced in October that it would be held to $700 billion. In December, Trump cited a $750 billion figure.

Although the Pentagon scrambled to finalize figures without knowing its budget, acting Secretary of Defense David Norquist said on Jan. 9 that the figure had been finalized.

The higher figure is expected to be the Pentagon's working budget, which includes the agency's base budget and funds used for overseas contingency operations, which has been used in recent years to fund war efforts.

Trump told an audience at the Missile Defense Review rollout in January, "I gave you the greatest and biggest budget in our history. And I've now done it two times. And I hate to tell the rest of the world, but I'm about to do it three times."