President Donald Trump defended his plan to raise military spending in an interview with Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, saying the $54 billion increase will come in part from a "revved up economy."
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TRUMP: The $54 billion increase in military spending will come from 'a revved up economy'
"We were probably GDP of a little more than 1% and if I can get that up to three or maybe more, we have a whole different ball game."
President Donald Trump at a meeting of the National Governors Association at the White House.
Host Steve Doocy asked how the White House plans to fund this increase, noting that proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department would not cover the cost, and even cutting all funding to both would only leave $50 billion.
"Well, I think the money is going to come from a revved up economy," Trump said.
"I mean you look at the kind of numbers we're doing, we were probably GDP of a little more than 1% and if I can get that up to three or maybe more, we have a whole different ball game."
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Trump also said in the interview he would not touch Social Security in budget cuts.
It's really hard to pay for increases in defense spending by only targeting domestic agencies outside of major entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, as Business Insider's Linette Lopez recently pointed out.
As the graph below explains, Trump would need to nearly completely eliminate the EPA, State Department, and International Assistance Programs to reach the $54 billion military increase:
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