The biggest takeaways from Trump's cut-filled FY26 budget

President Trump on Friday unveiled an initial version of his $1.7 trillion fiscal 2026 discretionary funding budget, which included staggering cuts of 22% to non-defense agencies. 

The Defense Department would see its funding increased by 13% to more than $1 trillion, more than 10% of which would come in the proposed reconciliation bill. Nearly every other agency in government would see dramatic reductions. While Trump put forward similar proposals each year of his first term only to see lawmakers largely ignore the suggestions, White House officials on Friday said Republican lawmakers are much more amenable to the cuts this time around. 

Senior Office of Management and Budget officials told reporters that even if Congress once again declines to institute the recommended reductions, it could unilaterally opt not to spend the money lawmakers have appropriated. The White House has pursued that approach in its first 100 days in office, leading to an array of lawsuits and court orders to reinstate paused funding.  

“We have never taken impoundment off the table,” one official said, referring to the process of withholding appropriated funds. The 1974 Impoundment Control Act prohibits such action for policy reasons, but the Trump administration has said the law is unconstitutional.  

Of the major federal non-defense agencies, all but the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Social Security Administration, would see their funding cut. Nearly all of those facing cuts would see their budgets slashed by at least 15%, and the departments of Interior, Labor, Housing and Urban Development and State (and other international programs included in its budget), as well the Small Business Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and National Science Foundation would all see reductions of at least 30%. The latter two agencies would have their budgets cut by more than half. 

A senior OMB official said excluding areas the Trump administration set aside for bumps, agencies would see on average a 35% reduction. The official added the budget proposal was a “pretty historic effort to deal with the bureaucracy.” 

Some of the boosted funds for select agencies—about $325 billion—is expected to come from the tax cut and spending package congressional Republicans are hoping to pass this year through the reconciliation process.  

The document did not detail workforce reductions expected across government, though it made some mentions of staffing cuts at specific agencies. The Internal Revenue Service would see its budget cut by $2.5 billion and the budget suggests the administration would cut the 19,000 roles the agency added in recent years. The Education Department, which has already seen its staffing reduced by 50% under Trump, would see dramatic reductions as it “winds down its operations and reduces its workforce.”

The Veterans Affairs Department will institute a reduction in force to “cut bureaucratic overhead.” VA is looking to cut around 80,000 roles at the department. NASA, which would be in line for a 24% overall budget reduction, would “streamline its workforce,” the White House said. The National Park Service would see its operations budget slashed by 31%, as the administration said the agency has “an urgent need to streamline staffing” and offload properties to states. Interior is slated to begin consolidating operations in the coming days and begin laying off employees in the coming weeks. 

Other major changes include a proposal to consolidate wildland firefighting, currently split between the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and other agencies, into one entity within the Interior Department. That reform would lead to better efficiency and coordination, the White House said. Other parts of USFS would face significant cuts as the Trump administration looks to refocus the agency on timber sales, mineral extraction and other goals. 

The budget would eliminate many programs throughout government the White House accused of pushing "radical" ideology, such as preschool development grants, the National Science Foundation's general research grants and Justice Department grant programs. The budget would eliminate grant programs at a bevy of agencies, as the White House suggested states should instead fund related projects. EPA would lose $2.5 billion for its State Revolving Fund, for example, because “states should be responsible for funding their own water infrastructure projects.”

Some of the rare funding increases, meanwhile, would go toward hiring: in addition to the long-promised surges for DHS, Transportation would receive significant new resources for the Federal Aviation Administration to modernize and boost its air traffic controller workforce. 

Research operations would suffer significant cuts across government. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would see its research and operations budget slashed by $1.3 billion, a 29% cut. The National Institutes of Health would lose $18 billion, a cut of about 38%. The White House said the agency has lost the trust of the American people and has “grown too big and unfocused.” 

Climate-related programs would also face severe cuts, which OMB Director Russ Vought said were “antithetical to the American way of life.” The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office within the Energy Department would see its budget decimated by nearly 75%, for example. All told, the budget would eliminate $15 billion in funding provided in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act related to clean energy and other efforts to combat climate change.

The White House put forward only a “skinny” version of its budget on Friday and a more robust version documenting line-by-line funding level proposals across every federal office is still expected. Appropriators are eager to see those details, which will help them write funding bills for fiscal 2026. Any funding measure will require Democratic support to pass the Senate, and lawmakers in the minority party were quick to criticize Trump’s proposal. 

“This budget proposal would set our country back decades by decimating investments to help families afford the basics, to keep communities safe, and to ensure America remains the world leader in innovation and lifesaving research,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.