“Skinny Budget” Calls for $163 Billion in Federal Spending Cuts as Democrats and Some Republicans Cry Foul

President Trump released his initial budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2026 and it calls for deep cuts in spending, with notable exceptions for the military and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The proposal, known as a skinny budget, was sent to Congress and outlines the administration’s spending goals. It calls for total spending of $1.7 trillion in FY 26. It proposes a $163 billion cut in non-defense discretionary spending to $557 billion, a 23 percent drop from the enacted FY 2025 level. 

“At this critical moment, we need a historic Budget—one that ends the funding of our decline, puts Americans first, and delivers unprecedented support to our military and homeland security. The President’s Budget does all of that,” said Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought. 

Agencies Could See Funding Gutted

All major non-defense agencies would see funding cuts of at least 15 percent. Exceptions include DHS, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Social Security Administration (SSA). 

The Departments of State, Labor, Interior, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), face cuts of at least 30 percent.  The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Small Business Administration (SBA) would lose half their funding. 

The budget would codify many of the changes already made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

Many of the programs on the chopping block are similar to programs the president has already been gutting including cuts to child care, global peacekeeping, renewable energy, disease research, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). 

Military Funding Proposal Rankles Republicans

The skinny budget boosts DHS spending by 65 percent to secure the border and raises military spending 13 percent to just over $1 trillion. 

However, the funding for both DHS and the military is coming in part from the reconciliation package that Republicans are working on. If stripped that out, military funding would be flat. That has upset some Republicans on Capitol Hill. 

“This budget would decrease President Trump’s military options and his negotiating leverage,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS). “I have said for months that reconciliation defense spending does not replace the need for real growth in the military's base budget.”

For Democrats, the whole proposal is simply a non-starter. 

“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 the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee Patty Murray (D-WA). 

Days earlier, Murray and her House Appropriations counterpart, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), released a tracker alleging over $430 billion in congressionally directed spending that the Trump administration has not spent or cut.

“No American president has ever so flagrantly ignored our nation’s spending laws or so brazenly denied the American people investments they are owed. Today, we’re publishing a new tracker to shine a light on President Trump’s vast, illegal funding freeze and how it is hurting people in every zip code in America,” said Murray and DeLauro. 

The full budget request is expected to be sent to Congress later this month, with hundreds of pages detailing the proposed funding levels and cuts. It’s also important to note that the skinny budget is just the opening salvo in the budget process and what the president wants almost never gets enacted into law in full.