President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal would increase border security funding by 65%, marking the largest investment in homeland security in history, a senior White House official said.
The White House unveiled its $1.7 trillion budget for the 2026 fiscal year, proposing about $163 billion in cuts to domestic programs, as well as a 13% increase in defense spending and that 65% increase in border spending. Fiscal year 2026 begins Oct. 1. The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2025 was $1.83 trillion.
On average, federal agencies will face budget cuts of 35%.
The budget commits $175 billion to fully secure the border. For defense spending, the president proposes an increase of 13% to $1.01 trillion for fiscal year 2026, an amount on par with the defense spending of the Reagan administration and the first Trump administration.
The budget cuts also reduce foreign aid by $49 billion. Foreign aid was destabilizing the countries receiving it because nonprofits receiving funding pushed radical woke ideology and sometimes advocated for regime changes, a White House official said on a background call for members of the media.
Rather, the budget “ensures that foreign aid spending is efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda,” according to a White House fact sheet.
America will be asking other countries to step up to fill in the gaps of what the U.S. will no longer contribute, the White House official said.
The budget implements Trump’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education by cutting the agency’s budget by about $10.76 billion.
But the Department of Education will receive a $60 million increase to expand the number of high-quality charter schools.
While the budget maintains full funding for student loan grants and special education programs, it creates a new K-12 Simplified Funding Program that consolidates 18 competitive and formula grant programs into a new formula grant, and a Special Education Simplified Funding Program that consolidates seven Individuals with Disabilities Education Act programs into a single grant. This saves more than $1.5 trillion.
The discretionary budget also request $500 million for the president’s “Make America Healthy Again” commission.
The Department of Government Efficiency was intimately involved in the budget proposal, a senior White House official said.
The White House has been rooting for DOGE since its inception, and the budget proposal is considered to be a joint project between DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget.
The proposal contains numerous cuts the administration considers wasteful spending projects, such as the $315 million that was allocated to push critical race theory in preschools. The Minnesota Department of Education used its funds to implement “intersectionality” and “racial equity” for 4-year-olds.
The senior White House official said he doesn’t think America knew the extent of the wastefulness of the government before DOGE and that it divided Americans on the basis of race and identity.
Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a letter accompanying the spending blueprint that many of the cuts reflected “spending contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans.”
He said the administration sought to target funds toward “niche, nongovernmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life.”
Republicans on the Hill have praised Trump’s budget, including fiscal conservative Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
“I strongly commend President Trump, OMB Director Russ Vought, and the entire White House team for releasing a truly transformational budget that maintains strong funding for our national defense while reducing by 20% the woke, weaponized, and wasteful bureaucracy by 20% to better than pre-COVID levels,” Roy said.
Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said the Left treated the federal budget like a slush fund.
“This budget reflects the commonsense priorities the American people voted for: secure borders, strong national defense, and an end to wasteful, weaponized programs,” he said.
