President Donald Trump’s budget outline released this week is drawing mixed to negative reviews from Maine’s congressional delegation on how it would change the order of business for many government programs.

The outline is a stunning reprioritization of the discretionary spending for departments and agencies that makes up about one-third of federal spending. Mandatory spending, such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and defense spending, isn’t touched. Trump has broken from conservative orthodoxy to not suggest cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

That makes this budget outline a hard exercise: The Atlantic explained it with charts showing how the proposal “offsets a modest increase in military funding with historic cuts to domestic programs.”

Maine could benefit from increased defense spending, but those smaller cuts hit many agencies in ways that would disproportionately impact the state. Here’s what you need to know.

• Trump would allocate 10 percent more funding to the Department of Defense, which could benefit defense contractors in Maine. This could benefit shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works and drew positive reviews from Republicans in Maine’s delegation, with Sen. Susan Collins saying it strengthens military funding amid “serious national security challenges around the globe.” Rep. Bruce Poliquin of 2nd District said he was “pleased the President is committed to strengthening our national security.” However, the Navy’s shift away from the type of surface combatant vessels that Bath Iron Works builds and the years-long appropriation process for contracts leave much in doubt about any immediate impact. And defense industry analysts note that while the budget increases the allocation for discretionary defense spending, it only provides a 3 percent increase over what the Pentagon spent last year, not exactly a windfall and less than what Trump promised on the campaign trail.

• Cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would hammer the University of Maine. It would kill the $73 million Sea Grant program, which funds a dozen researchers affiliated with UMaine. Collins and U.S. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, have already objected to those cuts. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has also indicated concern about the potential reduction of other funds under NOAA.

• A program helping low-income people heat their homes would be eliminated. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, would be tossed under the proposal. It gave $34 million in aid to Maine households this year. Poliquin cited that as a main concern with the proposal and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a 1st District Democrat, said it was one of the reasons that Trump’s budget is “dead on arrival.”

• It would also end a federal-state commission established to aid struggling border communities. The relatively small Northern Border Regional Commission, which serves Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, would be cut. Between 2010 and 2015, it put nearly $3.9 million into economic and infrastructure projects in Maine, unlocking $11 million in matching funds.

• That’s among a panoply of other cuts. Environmentalists have cited the proposed cut to the “brownfield” remediation program, which funds cleanups at old industrial sites contaminated by pollution, as a key area of concern. Elimination of arts funding would hit the Maine Arts Commission and Maine Public Broadcasting Network. The $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program — which has funded $500 million in projects in Maine cities and towns large and small as of 2013 — would also be eliminated.

The Republican president’s proposal won’t become law, but it’s an initial step before he submits a line-by-line plan in May. Congress often ignores this to pass continuing resolutions that have fueled government for years.

Only four budgets have passed on time since 1977 and the last was in 1997, so dysfunction is the norm. We’ll have more on the budget as things develop.

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