On April 3, 2026, Trump released his FY2027 budget proposal requesting $1.5 trillion for defense (a 44% increase) while slashing nondefense spending by 10% to $660 billion. The budget was released during an active war with Iran and a 49-day partial government shutdown. Trump stated bluntly: “We're fighting wars. We can't take care of daycare... It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare.”
The cuts gut nearly every domestic agency. The EPA is cut 52% to its lowest funding since the Reagan administration. The SBA is cut 67%, eliminating 15 of 16 entrepreneurial development programs including women's business centers. CISA's election security program — which provides advisors and information-sharing to state and local election officials — is entirely eliminated. LIHEAP, which helps low-income families heat their homes, is zeroed out ($0, from ~$4 billion). TRIO and GEAR UP college access programs serving 800,000 low-income students are eliminated. HUD is cut $10.7 billion, imposing 5-year time limits on rental assistance.
Science takes devastating hits: NIH cut $5 billion (12%), with 3 of 27 institutes eliminated. NSF cut 55% ($4.8 billion), eliminating the entire social sciences directorate. NASA cut 23%, with 40+ missions eliminated. CDC's headline cut is 41%, though some programs transfer to a new agency.
The budget provides no traditional 10-year deficit projections — unprecedented opacity. It assumes 3% annual GDP growth for a decade (CBO projects 1.8%, the Fed ~2.0%). CRFB president Maya MacGuineas called it “heavy on spending, light on details, and relies on an entire decade of rosy financial projections.” The budget uses the word “woke” 34 times.
Congress rejected nearly identical cuts for FY2026 — NIH actually got a $415 million increase. Sen. Patty Murray: “Trump wants to build a ballroom. I want to build more affordable housing, and only one of us sits on the Appropriations Committee.”