Trump’s budget includes a 43% increase in defense spending and cuts to many domestic programs

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration released its fiscal 2027 budget request Friday, asking Congress to increase spending on defense programs by 43% and cut funding for nondefense accounts by 10%.

The proposal kicks off a months-long process on Capitol Hill in which lawmakers will craft a dozen annual government funding bills before an Oct. 1 deadline.

Congress rarely fully follows the president’s request and did not do so last year, rejecting many of the proposed cuts, including Health And Training.

The process last year, the first of President Donald Trump’s second term, was extremely rocky and led to a 43 day shutdown that started in October, a miniature partial shutdown that ended in early February and a constant shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security.

The Budget request suggests that Republicans again employ the elaborate budget reconciliation process they used last year to pass the “big, beautiful” bill to further increase spending on the Pentagon and DHS.

The Defense Department’s budget would be increased to $1.5 trillion, an increase of $445 billion over current funding levels. The administration is proposing that lawmakers include $1.1 trillion of that in the annual spending bill, which would require bipartisan approval to pass, and include the other $350 billion in the partisan reconciliation bill.

“America has already begun to strengthen and revitalize the military, committing tens of billions of dollars to new and innovative programs like the Golden Dome for America and making critical investments in the defense industrial base,” the document says. “By continuing to provide the resources needed to rebuild America’s military, the budget restores deterrence, reinvigorates the warrior ethos of America’s armed forces, and prioritizes investments against the most acute national security threats.”

Department-specific requests

The budget calls for lawmakers to also increase spending on:

• The Department of Energy rose $4.8 billion, or 10%, to $53.9 billion.
• The Justice Department rose $4.7 billion, or 13%, to $40.8 billion.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs increased $11.5 billion, or 9%, to $144.9 billion in discretionary spending.

The proposal calls on Congress to cut spending on:

• The Department of Agriculture increased $4.9 billion, or 19%, to $20.8 billion.
• Commerce increased $1.3 billion, or 12.2%, to $9.2 billion.
• The Education Department rose $2.3 billion, or 2.9%, to $76.5 billion.
• The Environmental Protection Agency rose $4.6 billion, or 52%, to $4.2 billion.
• The Department of Health and Human Services rose $15.8 billion, or 12.5%, to $111.1 billion.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development rose $10.7 billion, or 13%, to $73.5 billion.
• Interior increased $2.3 billion, or 12.9%, to $15.9 billion.
• The Labor Department rose $3.5 billion, or 25.9%, to $9.9 billion.
• The Small Business Administration increased $671 million, or 67%, to $329 million.
• State Department and other international programs by $15.5 billion, or 30%, to $35.6 billion.
• Transportation increased $1.6 billion, or 6.2%, to $26.6 billion.
• Treasury rose $1.5 billion, or 12%, to $11.5 billion.

The budget earmarks $63 billion for funding the Department of Homeland Security, whose budget bill for the current year is not yet available for comparison.

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that there are problems with some of his proposals for both defense and domestic spending.

“While there are some improvements over last year’s domestic discretionary budget request, including full support for the Pell Grant program, the request has several deficiencies,” she said. “For example, the proposal includes unwarranted funding cuts to biomedical research. It would also eliminate valuable programs such as LIHEAP, which helps low-income families and seniors pay their energy bills during the cold winter and hot summer months, and TRIO, which helps low-income, first-generation students pursue higher education.”

Collins hinted that she could increase defense spending on a specific type of ship that she considers imperative to the country’s military.

“The demand for just one DDG-51, the U.S. Navy’s workhorse, is insufficient to counter the ever-expanding Chinese fleet, which now exceeds the size of the American Navy, as well as other global threats,” she said.

Privatizing TSA screening

The president’s request calls on lawmakers to cut funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s non-disaster grant program and begin outsourcing security screening at the nation’s airports.

“The budget begins privatizing TSA airport screening by requiring small airports to join the Screening Partnership Program, under which the TSA pays private screeners at certain airports,” it says. “The airports already using this program have demonstrated proven savings compared to federal screening measures. The move would result in cost savings compared to federal screening measures and initiate reform of a struggling federal agency.”

The budget requires Congress to provide a $1.7 billion increase to the Bureau of Prisons to improve working conditions and pay. Of that, $152 million will go toward first-year costs to “rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art, secure prison facility.” The Bureau of Prisons has evaluated whether the closed facility in California should be restored.

The budget includes increased funding for Trump’s efforts to improve the District of Columbia, including a $10 billion Presidential Capital Stewardship Program run by the National Park Service and $403 million for a fresh Transportation Department program to improve safety in the subway system and other local projects.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which launched the Artemis II mission to orbit the moon this week, would receive a cut of $5.6 billion, or 23%, to total funding of $18.8 billion under Trump’s budget proposal.

It calls on Congress to cut funding for the International Space Station by $1.1 billion and “prioritizes the rapid development and deployment of commercial space stations while keeping the ISS safely deorbited on track by 2030.”

Democrats reject ‘grim’ budget

Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, wrote in a statement that the budget request was “dismal and unacceptable.”

“President Trump wants to cut medical research to fund costly wars abroad,” she wrote. “It couldn’t be more backwards, and the only responsible thing you can do with such a morally bankrupt household is to throw it in the trash.”

Murray added that she expects Congress to pursue bipartisan spending bills, just as lawmakers did last year, including investing in domestic issues.

“This week, President Trump said our country can’t afford to help families with child care or health care — but his own budget proves what a ridiculous travesty that is,” she said. “Imagine how many families we could help if, instead of giving the Pentagon more money than it can possibly afford, we cut people’s heating bills in half and made child care affordable for every family in America.”

Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote in a statement that the request lacks details for programs that operate outside the annual budget and appropriations process, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

“For decades, presidents have submitted detailed budgets to Congress with detailed plans for the next decade outlining their approach to tax policy and our growing debt, as well as the solvency of our largest programs like Medicare and Social Security,” he wrote. “This budget does none of that. It’s just an unrealistic plea for more money on guns and bombs and less on the things people need like housing, health care, education, roads, scientific research and environmental protection.”

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota, ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said the Pentagon doesn’t have a problem with how much taxpayer money the Legislature appropriates, but rather “a problem with efficiently spending — and being accountable for — the funds appropriated by Congress.”

“The President’s demand for $1.15 trillion in defense spending is outrageous and unacceptable, especially when President Trump and Republicans in Congress intend to make further cuts to critical services that Americans rely on at home,” she said. “Without investment in our nation’s critical health care, education, nutrition and infrastructure, our nation cannot be safe.”