I'll take the challenge. I'm assuming that this is a magic-wand question (I don't have to get this through Congress and past the lobbyists).

1. Declare the War on Terror over and won and the Age of Empire over. The boys and girls are coming home.

2. The 2017 Defense budget is approx 820B. The 2003 budget was 420B (note: these are rounded, and can vary by source depending on how you want to account for various personnel costs). We're going to roll back to 2003 levels, and here's how:
a) Abolish the Army, Navy, Air Force and USMC. All are rolled into a unified United States Self-Defense Force (SDF). We will have massive retirements of the guys with scrambled eggs on their hats. Procurement will have but one stream. Duplicate capabilities are over (we do not need four air forces). But waah, what about tradition? You can wear your globe-eagle-and-anchor. You just don't get your own trough any more.
b) We will close many, many bases. But waah, what about jobs? We do not need armed welfare. There's work at the post office.
c) The Nuclear Triad becomes the Nuclear Uni-ad. Doesn't really matter which, but two of the missiles/submarines/bombers are done.
d) We're rolling the hell back on procurement. But waah, what if Zimbabwe develops modern forces 20 years from now? Mussolini's Italy went to war in 1940 with the very very best weapons of . . . 1930. We're not going to follow that route. A powerful economy is our best defense, for it can provide the very best stuff when we need it. Not before.
e) We're rolling the VA medical system into Medicare.
f) We're rolling most contract work back into uniform. There is no reason for the United States to ever hire a gun-toting yahoo merc to do a soldier's job. Or peel potatoes.
g) If you've worked in procurement, you can never, ever work in the defense industry. Ever.

3. We're slashing the Department of Fatherland Security's 44 billion, too.

That cuts approx 420 billion. The federal deficit is currently 666 billion (again, you can find different figures for various reasons/assumptions).

4. We're enacting the DeFazio financial transactions tax on Wall Street. That raises approx. 150 billion. It does not impinge individual investors, savers etc. though the Harry and Louise ads will be out in force telling you different.

5. The estate tax is back, and it's better than ever. **** you, Fauntleroy. That's $20 billion at 2017, but we'll take $30B from the trust funders. They can go take one of those potato-peeler MOS's at the new USSDF.

6. We're legalizing marijuana, with a federal tax. The Tax Foundation estimates that's worth 28 billion.

7. Medicare's expanding, and will have a buy-in public option, and will be allowed to negotiate drug prices. That last has savings estimates of up to $300B, but that's probably exaggerated. Even so, at half that it covers the expansion, the public option and the takeover of VA functions, while providing that last missing 20B and somewhat more.

8. We're already in surplus, but we're going to legalize a great increase in immigration with a twist: an SSI surcharge for immigrants. You can have a work visa, but you're paying 125% of citizen withholding.

9. And while we're at it, we're going to hire on a few thousand extra bureaucrats and audit the hell out of SSI disability payments across the board.

10. And since we're smacking Big Pharma, we're also going to prosecute willful marketing of opioids for profit as second-degree murder.

11. And we're going to reverse the Trumpazoid tax scheme, since we want actual economic growth. You'll pay more to inherit or to shuffle paper. You'll pay less if you worked for the money. Working your ass off over sitting on your fat ass.

12. We're soaking the rich, way worse than Obama, Clinton or Bernie wanted.

13. Now that we have a surplus, we're enacting a public infrastructure program, bigly. Public. Not a giveaway to investors.



So. The budget is balanced, and we're in a state of open warfare with every major pressure group except the NRA and AARP. And if I'm in charge I'm coming for your guns so that just leaves the old folks. I'm sure I can come up with something to piss them off, too.