The White House on Friday released President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which calls for $163 billion in cuts to federal spending.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, in a letter to Congress alongside the proposal, said the cuts to discretionary funding would lead to “significant savings.”
“The President is proposing base non-defense discretionary budget authority $163 billion — 22.6 percent below — current-year spending, while still protecting funding for homeland security, veterans, seniors, law enforcement, and infrastructure,” Vought wrote.
While budget proposals are essentially wish-list for the administration, they serve to illustrate the president’s priorities and what the White House hopes is a jumping off point for negotiations with Congress.
The cuts proposed would come from the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, USAID and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
However, Trump is proposing a 13% increase to defense spending to bring it to $1.01 trillion for the next fiscal year, Vought said. The administration’s also proposing $175 billion to go toward the southern border.
Trump’s proposal was met with criticism from Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who pushed back on the White House’s account of defense spending.
“For the defense budget, OMB has requested a fifth year straight of Biden administration funding, leaving military spending flat, which is a cut in real terms,” Wicker wrote in a statement.
“OMB is not requesting a trillion-dollar budget. It is requesting a budget of $892.6 billion, which is a cut in real terms. This budget would decrease President Trump’s military options and his negotiating leverage,” Wicker said.
President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Several Republicans who have been unafraid to challenge President Trump also issued statements critical of his budget request.
Sen. Susan Collins, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she has “serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the challenges we face the proposed funding cuts to — and in some cases elimination of — programs like LIHEAP, TRIO, and those that support biomedical research.
“Ultimately, it is Congress that holds the power of the purse,” she said.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, also took issue with the defense spending numbers in Trump’s proposal.
“America cannot expect our allies to heed calls for greater annual defense spending if we are unwilling to lead by example. Fortunately, Presidential budget requests are just that: requests. Congress will soon have an opportunity to ensure that American power — and the credibility of our commitments — are appropriately resourced. I hope and expect that my colleagues will join me in placing America’s national security first as we begin the FY26 appropriations process,” McConnell said.
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, expressed alarm the request could severely slash programs many Americans rely on.
“President Trump has made his priorities clear as day: he wants to outright defund programs that help working Americans while he shovels massive tax breaks at billionaires like himself and raises taxes on middle-class Americans with his reckless tariffs,” Murray said in a statement.
“This preliminary budget proposal is exceptionally light on details we desperately need — but this much is clear: Trump wants to eviscerate programs that matter most to working families,” Murray said.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.