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budget
'No Billionaire Left Behind' in Trump Budget Request That Trashes Workers, Struggling Families
Murray added that, for Trump, "it’s no billionaire left behind—and good luck to everyone else."
As his Republican allies in Congress continued work on a major reconciliation bill that would offer sweeping tax cuts to the nation's corporate giants and wealthiest Americans while gutting Medicaid and food assistance programs for the poor, the more detailed budget request from Trump offers a deeper look into the far-right president's desired slash-and-burn approach to the nation's social safety net, valued programs, and key institutions relied upon by tens of millions.
While the topline target of the Trump proposal aims to cut $163 billion from the 2026 fiscal budget, a lack of critical details withheld by the White House appears to be part of a concerted effort to limit public outrage over the impact it would have—on people and communities as well as the overall economy. As the Washington Post's Jeff Stein explains:
With little fanfare, the budget office released 1,224 pages that spell out its spending plans in detail, expanding on the abbreviated "skinny budget" it unveiled this month. So far, though, the administration has addressed only the portion of federal outlays known as discretionary spending, which doesn't cover programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that make up the bulk of the federal budget.
Typically, the White House releases a comprehensive budget proposal each year that provides 10-year estimates of federal spending, revenue and deficits, as well as projections of economic growth, interest rates and other important indexes. These numbers are hotly contested and typically initiate a debate over the White House's priorities. But the Trump administration appears to be trying to avoid that debate, at least for now, by ignoring the traditional process for releasing a budget.
However, slashed funding for key programs is clear throughout the documents released by the administration, with cuts to healthcare initiatives, public education, student loan support, environmental and labor protections, food aid, and housing assistance for low-income Americans among the most prominent.
According to the New York Times:
The updated budget reiterated the president's pursuit of deep reductions for nearly every major federal agency, reserving its steepest cuts for foreign aid, medical research, tax enforcement and a slew of anti-poverty programs, including rental assistance. The White House restated its plan to seek a $33 billion cut at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example, and another $33 billion reduction at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Targeting the Education Department, the president again put forward a roughly $12 billion cut, seeking to eliminate dozens of programs while unveiling new changes to Pell grants, which help low-income students pay for college.
Sharon Parrott, president of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), said the updated request "confirms once again that the president continues to break his promises to lower families' costs and help people who are struggling to make ends meet."
Parrott emphasized that the updated Trump budget request cannot be separated from what the GOP are trying to push through Congress in their spending package.
"To get the full picture of the administration's harmful agenda requires including the Trump-backed bill under consideration in Congress, which gives massive tax cuts to the wealthy, partly paid for by raising costs and taking away health coverage and food assistance from millions," explained Parrott. "Policymakers of both parties in Congress need to see this budget, and this entire agenda, for what it is—an irresponsible tax giveaway at the expense of everyday families and investments in our future—and plan a better course for the country."
An estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which examined an earlier version of Trump's budget, forecasted that the plan would add over $2 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.
Rep. Brendan F. Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, decried the budget request update as a "half-baked proposal" which only serves to prove Trump's determination "to make life harder for struggling families" nationwide.
"Republicans are already pushing a bill that would inflict the largest losses of health care coverage and food assistance in our nation's history," added Boyle. "This funding request goes even further, decimating critical public- and mental-health programs and slashing housing aid, home-energy support, and job-training grants. Republicans will claim these cuts are about fiscal responsibility, yet they're happy to add trillions to the deficit to shower billionaires with tax breaks."
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), vowed committed opposition from his party in the upper chamber.
"Trump's radical 2026 budget would be a gut punch to working families and a windfall for billionaires—raising prices for American families while hollowing out the programs critical to families across the country," Schumer said on Saturday. "Senate Democrats will never let it become law."
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