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On Friday, May 2, the Trump Administration released its recommendations for discretionary spending for fiscal year (FY) 2026 in a 40-page table outlining funding levels across agencies and select programs. By way of background, the President's budget is just the beginning of the annual appropriations process whereby the President makes agency budget requests that align with the Administration's policy priorities. Although the President's budget does not have the force of law, it can set the Congressional agenda for appropriations when the President is the same party as the Congress, as is the case currently.
As outlined in a cover letter from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), the budget proposes a cut of 22.6 percent in non-defense discretionary spending across all agencies and an increase of 13 percent in defense and border security spending. The funding amounts reflected in the Administration's proposal stem from a "rigorous, line-by-line review of FY 2025" spending.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discretionary budget requests a total of $93.8 billion, a cut of more than 26 percent from the FY 2025 enacted budget of $127 billion. The HHS section of the budget table makes a request for an increase in funding for only one program: a $500 million investment for the "Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)" program. In the description, this new initiative seeks to build on the work of the MAHA Commission—established in Executive Order 14212—and will allow the agency to "tackle nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality and safety across HHS."
The remainder of the HHS entries detail significant proposed cuts to HHS programs resulting from both the effort to consolidate and streamline HHS programs as reflected in the HHS reorganization announcement as well as broader efforts to eliminate "duplicative" or "simply unnecessary" programs. Many of the eliminated programs are those focused on health equity and other initiatives centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The full President's budget request detailing requested funding levels across all programs is expected later this month.
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