Inhofe Supports Trump's Defense Spending, Budget Cuts

Congress is now on Easter break but once it's back in session, the top priority will be the budget. President Donald Trump has called for a significant increase to defense spending. Sen. Jim Inhofe sat down with our Justin Dougherty on the president’s proposal and if he’s willing to give the president that much of an increase.

Justin Dougherty: Are you in support of his $54 billion in increase spending for the defense?

Sen. Inhofe: I am.

Dougherty: All of it?

Inhofe:  Yeah all of it in a proportional way. You want to spend as you have it and put it into proper use.

Dougherty: But the $54 billion comes at the cost of cutting significant programs. The EPA. Are you OK with scaling back a lot of those vital programs?

Inhofe: Yes I am. You have to realize and read the constitution. The main thing we need to be doing it defending America and that has to come first. But to answer your question, yes there are a lot of good programs that are out there but in terms of priority, defending America has got to be the number one priority and it hasn't been in the last 8 years.

Dougherty: Critics will say part of defending America is defending against climate change. Scaling back that EPA makes that harder.

Inhofe: There are some who actually believe that and it’s kind of a joke.

Click here to watch the senator's entire interview.