Critics slam cuts to foreign aid, big boost for Pentagon

Washington

PRESIDENT Donald Trump's proposal to add US$54 billion to the Pentagon budget next year sounds huge at first - a 10 per cent increase for a department that already receives more of taxpayers' money than any other part of government.

But the outgoing Obama administration had forecast a US$35 billion increase for the Defense Department in fiscal year 2018, so Mr Trump's share of the proposed increase over and above that figure is US$19 billion, according to budget analysts.

Even so, the proposed Pentagon increase has been greeted with criticism from military spending hawks, in part because White Ho…