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.
Trump’s budget request would increase defense spending by 13% to more than $1 trillion for FY26. The president’s budget request would also boost Department of Homeland Security funding by 65% to aid the administration’s border security and deportation efforts.
The proposal also calls for canceling more than $20 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) “Green New Scam” funds that Biden characterized as one of his signature legislative accomplishments. The IIJA programs on the chopping block include the Department of Transportation’s electric vehicle (EV) charging grant program, according to the White House budget request.
“EV chargers should be built just like gas stations: with private sector resources disciplined by market forces,” the White House fact sheet states.
Conservative GOP lawmakers praised Trump’s budget request for reining in government spending back to pre-COVID levels. Congressional Republicans are also eyeing steep spending cuts of $1.5 trillion or higher in the president’s anticipated “one big, beautiful bill.”
“Today, the White House released a transformational budget that maintains strong funding for our national defense while reducing the woke, weaponized, and wasteful bureaucracy by 20% even farther back than pre-COVID levels,” Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy wrote in a statement posted to X. “Combined with our joint efforts to rescind additional wasteful spending, and deliver a reconciliation bill that will extend and expand the Trump tax cuts while reforming Medicaid and other programs to reduce deficits, we are poised to deliver prosperity, freedom, and strength to the American people.”
“President Trump’s budget reflects his bold and unwavering commitment to reining in Washington’s runaway spending, right sizing the bloated federal bureaucracy, and putting our nation on a path to balance,” House Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington wrote in a statement following the budget request’s release.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect Sen. Collins’ statement to the DCNF.
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