Trump Seeks ‘Transformative’ Spending Cuts In First Budget Request Of Second Term

President Donald Trump is seeking massive cuts to government programs, including culling more than $160 billion in non-defense spending in his fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget request.

Trump released a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year Friday morning, which asks Congress to approve slashing non-defense discretionary spending 22.6% below fiscal year 2025 levels. Trump’s request to reduce this spending to its lowest level since 2017 builds on the Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-cutting initiatives to root out government waste and downsize the federal government.

White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russ Vought said Friday the government programs that the White House is proposing to cut were “tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life” in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee chair Susan Collins.

Collins replied in a statement emailed to the DCNF on Friday characterizing the budget request as late and detailed several “serious objections” the senior appropriator has to the president’s budget proposal.

“Ultimately, it is Congress that holds the power of the purse,” Collins wrote.

Trump’s first budget request of his second term will be subject to congressional approval. Lawmakers must pass a fiscal year 2026 budget before the Sept. 30 funding deadline.

The FY26 budget request seeks to cut discretionary spending by 7.6% overall with many government agencies seeing roughly 35% cut on average, according to senior OMB officials. The president’s budget blueprint also seeks substantial funding increases to defense and border security priorities which senior OMB officials characterized as “historic” investments.