(WASHINGTON) — 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, which would bring it to $1.01 trillion for the next fiscal year.
The administration’s also proposing $175 billion to go toward the southern border.
Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued a critical statement on President Trump’s budget proposal, expressing 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 the 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.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
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