President Donald Trump’s budget request pairs a significant boost to military spending with deep cuts to domestic programs, setting the stage for high-stakes fights among lawmakers crafting next fiscal year’s government funding bills.
Trump’s call to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion at the expense of cutting non-defense spending by 10% to $660 billion underscores a significant gap between the White House and Democratic lawmakers.
Many of Trump’s proposed cuts aren’t expected to become law, as appropriations bills require bipartisan support given the 60-vote threshold to advance most measures in the Senate. Lawmakers either rejected or tempered the vast majority of proposed cuts from the Trump administration’s budget last year in the recently enacted government funding bills.
But the administration’s budget blueprint outlining its priorities highlights where the funding debate could be the most contentious ahead of the September 30 appropriations deadline and the November midterm elections.
“The vision President Trump has outlined for America in his budget is bleak and unacceptable,” Senate Appropriations Vice Chair
GOP Divisions
The request risks causing infighting among GOP lawmakers.
The administration is asking Congress to enact $350 billion of the $1.5 trillion in defense spending through reconciliation, a budgetary process that can pass with a simple majority and sidestep Democrats. But Senate GOP leadership wants to keep their next party-line bill narrowly focused on immigration enforcement as part of the GOP’s plan to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Republicans’ tax-and-spending megabill that passed along party lines through reconciliation last year included $150 billion in defense spending, less than half of what the administration is seeking now. Conservative hardliners will almost certainly seek significant offsets if GOP lawmakers decide to pursue another defense hike in mandatory spending.
The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees committed to working with the administration to enact the full defense budget into law.
“This funding will ensure our military remains the most advanced in the world, supporting an unparalleled force capable of defending our interests in the 21st century,” Rep.
Some cuts to international programs could also cause friction between Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration. The president’s budget calls to defund the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-independent nonprofit that seeks to advance democracy abroad. House Republican appropriators defended the organization in a hearing earlier this year.
Trump signed into law $315 million for the organization in the recently enacted funding bills, but this year’s budget proposes no funding for the group.
House Speaker
Major Fights Ahead
The budget also pursues several administration priorities that won’t receive a warm reception from Democrats, including continuing “the Department of Education’s path to elimination” and proposing to begin the privatization of the Transportation Security Administration. The administration proposes cutting $52 million from TSA by requiring small airports to enroll in the Screening Partnership Program, an existing program where the agency pays for private screeners.
Trump’s request also continues his push to gut foreign aid programs, which lawmakers largely ignored in last year’s government funding bills. The budget calls for a $13.9 billion cut in funding for the Department of State, a 29% decrease to $33.6 billion.
The request calls to defund international food aid programs, including the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program and Food for Peace. Lawmakers fully funded the two programs in the recently enacted funding bills.
The budget proposes trimming $4.3 billion from global health programs as well, partly targeting the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Lawmakers from both parties have pushed back on the administration’s efforts to cut PEPFAR.
Trump’s budget also renews a push to cut science and clean energy programs under the Department of Energy, including a $1.1 billion cut to the Office of Science, eliminating funding for climate change and green energy research. It proposes trimming $15.2 billion from clean energy infrastructure funding from former President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law.
Renewed Calls for Cuts
The request asks to cut funding for the Department of Health and Human Services and other programs to $111.1 billion—a decrease of $15.8 billion or 12.5% from enacted fiscal 2026 levels. That will likely face significant pushback from Democrats and some GOP lawmakers.
The budget renews several cuts the administration sought in last year’s request, asking lawmakers to eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program within HHS, which helps low income households pay for heating and cooling expenses. The request also proposes a $5 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health.
The Trump administration also continues its push to cut the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund which provides grants to small banks in underserved communities. The CDFI fund has received strong bipartisan support among lawmakers but the budget calls for a $204.5 billion cut.
Other proposals similar to the administration’s request last year include a $1.3 billion cut to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s non-disaster grant program and a $1.6 billion cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants.
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