CRFB Statement on President Trump’s FY 2026 Discretionary Budget

The Trump Administration released its “skinny budget” today, which details plans for discretionary spending for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. The budget would cut $163 billion of base nondefense discretionary spending and hold base defense spending flat, though it relies on the pending reconciliation bill to increase defense spending by $119 billion in FY 2026 and nondefense spending by $44 billion, thereby holding total base discretionary funding flat between FY 2025 and 2026.  

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

Though this is not a full budget, we are encouraged that the Administration put forward a partial plan that includes discretionary spending reductions. The White House should release a full budget quickly and work with Congress to fund the government by the beginning of the fiscal year – just five months away. It would be prudent to extend the enforceable discretionary spending caps in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which otherwise expire at the end of this fiscal year.

Still it makes no sense to budget in this compartmentalized way. This request focuses on only a quarter of the budget over a single year. It remains to be seen what the rest of the President’s proposals will hold, and there is still the multi-trillion-dollar question of whether the reconciliation bill will blow up the debt.  

We need a budget that tells the full story, and it should control spending, reduce borrowing, bring deficits down to 3 percent of GDP and put the debt on a sustainable path.  

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