The White House unveiled a preliminary fiscal 2026 budget Friday, outlining a plan for Congress’ Republican majorities to try to slash funding for climate programs, renewable energy, vulnerable communities and other Democratic-aligned priorities.
President Donald Trump’s “skinny” budget, influenced by recommendations from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, spells out toplines for major agencies and numerous offices, but leaves more granular, program-specific details for a full budget proposal expected later this month.
In all, the fiscal 2026 budget request to Congress would reduce nondefense discretionary spending by $163 billion, or 23 percent below the currently enacted level, pulling that spending down to its lowest level in eight years, according to the White House.
The budget proposes to aggressively slash what the administration calls the “Green New Scam,” including a $22.5 billion cut to funding enacted by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, and numerous offices and programs focused on clean energy.
Programs with broad bipartisan support — such as an Army Corps of Engineers water infrastructure fund, EPA’s drinking water and clean water funds for states, forestry operations, energy utility assistance for low-income households, science and technology programs, agricultural support, and tribal programs — would also face cuts.
The budget numbers provided by the Office of Management and Budget in some cases do not appear to mesh with current funding levels approved by Congress. For example, the Interior Department received $14.7 billion in fiscal 2024, which Congress extended through fiscal 2025 in March, but the budget request lists the agency’s current budget at $16.8 billion. In a footnote, the administration notes that it is seeking to move federal wildland fire responsibilities from the Agriculture Department to Interior, which could account for that discrepancy.
“No agency was spared in the Left’s taxpayer-funded cultural revolution,” White House budget director Russ Vought said in a statement. “At this critical moment, we need a historic Budget — one that ends the funding of our decline, puts Americans first, and delivers unprecedented support to our military and homeland security. The President’s Budget does all of that.”
Republicans appropriators will not follow the budget request to a tee. It proposes cuts to numerous programs that have support among coalitions of GOP members. Indeed, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters Thursday that “no president is going to dictate what’s going to happen here.”
But the request thrilled conservatives Friday morning and will likely heavily influence the fiscal 2026 spending bills that the House and Senate Appropriations committees develop over the next several months.
Conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) praised the plan as one that “re-aligns federal spending to the priorities of the people … and not weaponized against the people.”
Senior officials at the Office of Management and Budget told reporters Friday that they are counting on congressional Republicans to pass their party-line reconciliation bill to boost much of the defense funding, including for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Democratic leaders have vowed to push back hard against Republican proposals that threaten to impose major cuts. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed the budget proposal as an “assault on hard working Americans.”
“It’s not just fiscally irresponsible, it’s a betrayal of working people from a morally bankrupt president,” Schumer said in a statement.
“Democrats are going to fight this heartless budget with everything we’ve got and if Congressional Republicans actually cared about American families, they’d join us.”
Steep cuts for EPA, Interior
The budget request proposes to cut funding from every Cabinet department other than Defense, Homeland Security, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, which would all see increases, aligned with Republicans’ defense- and border-security-focused agenda.
EPA would see a 54.5 percent reduction, bringing its overall funding down from the current $9.1 billion to $4.2 billion. The Superfund, the Office of Research and Development, clean and drinking water state revolving funds, environmental justice initiatives, an air pollution program, and others would be significantly curtailed or eliminated.
The Interior Department’s budget would be cut from $16.8 billion to $11.7 billion — a 30.5 percent decrease — under the proposal, with reductions targeting the Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
NPS alone would be subject to a $900 million cut, including for the operation of sites that are not technically “national parks,” though the budget document does not say where. The agency’s Historic Preservation Fund and construction and recreation budgets would be cut by more than $300 million combined.
The Department of Energy would be slashed by 9.4 percent — a $4.7 billion reduction — with nonnuclear defense programs facing a brunt of the cuts. NNSA funding would stay flat with the expectation that Congress will increase its allocation through reconciliation.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy would see its budget decimated under the proposal, with a $2.5 billion reduction. The budget document inaccurately asserts that EERE has been responsible for regulations “banning” gas stoves and incandescent lightbulbs.
The budget for the Commerce Department, which houses NOAA, would be reduced from $10.2 billion to $8.5 billion. NOAA itself would be hit with a $1.3 billion reduction eliminating “a variety of climate-dominated research, data, and grant programs, which are not aligned with Administration policy-ending ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives.”
More funding proposals
The Trump administration is hoping to downsize agency budgets and staff by targeting a host of smaller programs, including many with bipartisan support.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, would be effectively eliminated with a cut of more than $4 billion. Congressional Republicans have sent letters to the administration in recent weeks asking for the program to be spared.
The budget document says the administration will “instead support low-income individuals through energy dominance, lower prices, and an America First economic platform.”
A senior OMB official asserted Friday that the program “is basically just a subsidy to the utility companies” and that it “historically has a massive problem with improper payments.” The entirety of the staff that oversees LIHEAP was placed on administrative leave in early April and are set to be terminated June 2.
The administration is also pushing for a $90 million reduction to the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, which has enjoyed strong support from Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
“DERA grants distort the market by subsidizing select technologies, picking winners and subverting consumer choice,” the budget document states. “This program is a waste for taxpayers and should be eliminated.”
The budget continues to fund the Appalachian Regional Commission at $14 million because it serves a region “hard hit by the loss of good coal mining jobs.”
EPA drinking water programs, including the Indian Reservation Drinking Water Program, would see their funding boosted by nearly $40 million combined.
The administration is calling for eliminating $5.7 billion for electric vehicle chargers, canceling a five-year program that was established as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law. Republicans often cite the relatively low number of charging stations that came out of the program in its first two years, though construction was only beginning to ramp up.
DOE’s environmental management program would face a $389 million reduction.
Timothy Cama, Amelia Davidson and Mike Lee contributed to this report.
