President Donald Trump‘s fiscal 2026 budget proposal calls for $163 billion in cuts to multiple federal programs.
The symbolic skinny budget, released Friday, is a key indicator of the president’s political priorities for the federal government, but it is not expected to be passed in full.
TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS: WHERE THINGS STAND IN THE INITIAL MONTHS OF HIS SECOND TERM
It also gives direction to the GOP-led House and Senate on which policies to turn into spending legislation. The skinny budget, coming during the president’s first year of his second administration, is not as detailed as a normal budget.
While fiscal hawks might tout the proposed cuts in the White House budget and Democrats are sure to blast it over the deep spending reductions, the budget is essentially aspirational. The decision on how much money each federal agency should receive in appropriations comes down to Congress, so the budget proposal can be seen as a White House messaging vehicle.
In the budget, Trump proposed $557 billion in nondefense discretionary spending, which amounts to a decrease of $163 billion, or a 22.6% cut, in projected spending in fiscal 2025. The cuts will likely affect education, transportation, and public health funding, but not Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Yet the administration is also calling for an increase in spending for veterans, Social Security, Make America Healthy Again initiatives, and law enforcement.
In contrast, the administration proposed a 13% increase, or to $1.01 trillion, in border security and defense spending. The White House also called for a nearly 65% increase for the Department of Homeland Security to help crack down on illegal immigration and secure the southern border.
The big increase at DHS is to “ensure that agencies repelling the invasion of our border have the resources they need to complete their mission,” according to the White House.
A senior Office of Management and Budget official told reporters on Friday that the budget represents “a $1.7 trillion discretionary budget, that’s down from $1.83 trillion. That’s a 7.6% cut overall.”
The official also touted the budget as “the lowest nondefense spending since 2017. If you adjust it for inflation, it’s the lowest nondefense spending since 2000.”
The White House asked Congress to cut $15 billion in funding for renewable energy technology from former President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law and $5.7 billion in funding to the Transportation Department for electric vehicle charger grant programs. Both are key policies that Trump railed against as he campaigned for the presidency in 2024.
Another agency that the White House is seeking to cut spending on includes the U.S. Agency for International Development, as the administration eases away from sending millions of dollars to foreign nations.
“You’re going to see an enormous cut to foreign aid, but one that still preserves substantial presence to make sure that we can have targeted foreign aid across the country, where it’s in the interest of the United States,” said the senior OMB official. “But we are not going to be funding Sesame Street in Iraq. We’re not going to be funding LGBT activism in Africa.”
Given big advances in artificial intelligence, the budget also maintains funding for U.S. AI research and quantum information science at key agencies, according to the administration.
The budget includes funding for space exploration by refocusing NASA funding. White House officials said it is the administration’s goal to beat China in getting humans back on the moon and shuttling the first human to Mars. The budget would allocate $7 billion for lunar exploration and $1 billion for Mars-focused programs.
As the White House seeks to eliminate the Education Department by sending funding back to states, it is also calling for $500 million, or a $60 million increase, in charter school funding, a move that is sure to delight conservative allies.
TRUMP CUTS FEDERAL FUNDING FOR NPR AND PBS OVER ‘BIASED’ COVERAGE
“The President’s Skinny Budget reflects funding levels for an agency that is responsibly winding down, shifting some responsibilities to the states, and thoughtfully preparing a plan to delegate other critical functions to more appropriate entities,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “It supports the president’s vision of expanding school choice and ensuring every American has access to an excellent education.”
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency once boasted about a goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal waste, but it claims it has saved about $160 billion as it faces legal setbacks from federal judges.
Trump’s budget would seek to codify DOGE’s cuts into law, although GOP lawmakers have privately conceded that enshrining the cuts will not be an easy path.
And should Congress decline to take up OMB’s proposed cuts to non-defense spending, the White House is keeping the door open to the president simply impounding those funds.
Both Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought voiced support for impoundment, an executive process to circumvent Congress’s power of the purse made illegal by a 1974 law, throughout the 2024 campaign, setting the administration up for a potential showdown with the Supreme Court.
Trump’s team argues that the impoundment legislation is unconstitutional, claiming that Article II of the Constitution obligates the president to “faithfully execute” the law, including an implicit requirement not to enforce unconstitutional legislation. Trump advisors also note that former President Thomas Jefferson was a frequent user of the impoundment powers.
The White House is preparing to send Congress a separate rescissions package to slash $9.3 billion in programs, including at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the United States Agency for International Development. The House could seek to pass those cuts separately as soon as this month.
SENATE DEMOCRATS STAND BY ABREGO GARCIA DESPITE NEW DOMESTIC ABUSE CLAIMS
But asked directly by Washington Examiner on Friday if the White House would seek to impound funds, a White House official said the recissions vote would be a good first step and nothing is “off the table.”
“We’ll see if they vote for it and where those votes lie, and our submission is not going to be viewed as perfect. They’re gonna have changes that they think makes sense. We’ll have those conversations,” the senior OMB official continued. “We’re getting a very, very different feel this time around than in the first four budgets.”
