CRFB Statement on Overdue President’s FY 2027 Budget

Under the law, the President is required to submit his budget for the upcoming fiscal year today, on the first Monday in February. However, there are reportedly no plans to release the budget today, and some press reports indicate that we may not get the President’s budget until March.

In fact, President Trump has yet to release a full budget proposal since taking office last year. And no president has submitted their budget by the statutory deadline in 11 years, since 2015.

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

If you don’t budget, you can’t govern. Yet once again, the President’s budget is late – and there’s no explanation for the missed deadline. The President’s budget is incredibly important for kicking off the budget process and showing the Administration’s priorities. But President Trump has been in office over a year, and we’ve yet to see his fiscal plan.

When the President does release his budget, it should include an actionable plan for getting our nation’s finances on sustainable footing. That budget should select a responsible fiscal target like reducing deficits to at least 3% of GDP, rely on realistic economic forecasts and credible budget estimates, and put forward specific tax and spending policies that put debt on a sustainable path. 

With debt approaching record levels and deficits projected to average over 6% of GDP per year, significant reforms will be needed. We won’t be able to fix the debt without touching Social Security, Medicare, defense, or revenue – the math just doesn’t work. And we can’t count on heroic growth rates or crashing interest rates. Most forecasters expect long-term economic growth of less than 2% per year; a budget that assumes 3% sustained annual growth over the next decade is not a serious budget.

Unfortunately, policymakers actually added $1.5 trillion to the ten-year debt last year – a number that will go up significantly if the Supreme Court rules that many of the President’s tariffs are illegal.

The President’s budget offers an opportunity to start turning things around. We need the President to lead.

 ###

For more information, please contact Matt Klucher, Assistant Director for Media Relations, at klucher@crfb.org.