President Donald Trump's 2026 budget plan would slash non-defense domestic spending by $163 billion while increasing expenditures on national security, according to statements released by the White House on Friday.
The budget showed a desire to crack down on diversity programs and initiatives to address climate change. But the administration has yet to release detailed tables on what it wants income taxes, tariffs or the budget deficit to be — a sign of the political and financial challenge confronting Trump when he's promising to cut taxes and repay the federal debt without doing major damage to economic growth.
Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the upcoming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trump's return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican president's second-term pursuits, alongside his party in Congress.
It also arrives as Trump has unilaterally imposed what could hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases in the form of tariffs, setting off a trade war that has consumers, CEOs and foreign leaders worried about a possible economic downturn.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, provided contours of a so-called skinny version of topline numbers, with more details to come.
"Details soon," Vought said during a Cabinet meeting this week at the White House.
The nation's estimated $7 trillion-plus federal budget has been growing steadily, with annual deficits fast approaching $2 trillion and the annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion. That's thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code and climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, largely to cover the nation's health needs as people age. The nation's debt load, at $36 trillion, is ballooning.
This year's presidential budget request is expected to reflect cuts already made by Trump's actions and adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, including the slashing of the government workforce. It also could point to potential new revenue streams, possibly from Trump's tariffs program.
Democrats are prepared to assail Trump's budget as further evidence that the Republican administration is intent on gutting government programs that Americans depend on.
Congress is already deep into the slog of drafting of Trump's big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered funds for the administration's mass deportation effort — a package that, unlike the budget plan, would carry the force of law.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spoke with Trump multiple times this week, is racing to have the president's "big, beautiful bill" approved by the House by Memorial Day and sent on to the Senate.
"We had a very productive and encouraging meeting at the White House this morning, and the remaining pieces of 'The One, Big Beautiful Bill!’ are coming together very well," Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after Thursday's meeting with Trump and various committee chairmen.
But deep differences remain among the Republicans, who are trying to pass that big bill over the objections of Democrats.
"We are awaiting some final calculations on a few of the tax components, and we expect to be able to complete that work on a very aggressive schedule," Johnson said.
Meantime, Cabinet officials are expected to start trekking to Capitol Hill to testify about their various requests in the president's budget.
It's Congress, under its constitutional powers, that decides the spending plans, approves the bills that authorize federal programs and funds them through the appropriations process. Often, that system breaks down, forcing lawmakers to pass stopgap spending bills to keep the government funded and avoid federal shutdowns.
Vought is also expected on Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead as the Trump administration presses its case to Congress for funds.
Among the more skilled conservative budget hands in Washington, Vought has charted a career toward this moment. He served during the first Trump administration in the same role and, for Project 2025, wrote an extensive chapter about the remaking of the federal government.
Vought has separately been preparing a $9 billion package that would gut current 2025 funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which involves the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to cease funding for PBS and NPR.
Vought has said that package of so-called budget rescissions would be a first of potentially more, as the Trump administration tests the appetite in Congress for lawmakers to go on record and vote to roll back the money.
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