On Senate Floor, Murray Blasts Trump’s Budget Request and Speaks About Path Forward for FY27 Appropriations

04.16.26

Murray : "None of the priorities Trump campaigned on are reflected in this budget. He's breaking every single promise he made about lowering costs, and helping families, and putting America first. Instead of 'putting America first,' he is asking Congress to slash investments in families to help fund his reckless foreign wars, and line the pockets of defense company CEOs and their stockholders."

Murray : "We have to put more resources into helping people out, not funding Trump's wars abroad. Do Republicans really want to give Trump's warmongering a blank check while giving families the short end of the stick? Because that's the basic pitch Trump has made."

Murray : "We should be fighting a war against cancer, not another war in the Middle East."

ICYMI : Senator Murray on President Trump's FY27 Budget Request

*** WATCH : Senator Murray's full floor speech***

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took to the Senate floor to speak about President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request-and to outline the challenges ahead for this year's appropriations process and underscore the importance of investing in families, instead of financing Trump's wars abroad.

Senator Murray also spoke about the latest on fiscal year 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Those remarks can be found HERE.

Senator Murray's remarks, as delivered, are below:

[TRUMP'S BUDGET REQUEST]

"This week, now that President Trump finally submitted his FY27 budget request, which he did over the recess, we are kicking off the FY27 appropriations process in earnest with hearings in the Appropriations Committee.

"Now, a budget is a statement of values, and what this budget says about our president's values is bleak. Trump's vision for our future is not better schools for our kids. It's not curing diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's. It's not lowering costs for families like child care or home energy bills. It is war, war-plain and simple.

"None of the priorities Trump campaigned on are reflected in this budget. He's breaking every single promise he made about lowering costs, and helping families, and putting America first.

[TRUMP'S $1.5 TRILLION DEFENSE ASK]

"Instead of 'putting America first,' he is asking Congress to slash investments in families to help fund his reckless foreign wars, and line the pockets of defense company CEOs and their stockholders.

"He summed it up pretty well when he said recently that quote: 'We're fighting wars. We can't take care of day care.' That was him, it doesn't get more explicit-or more wrong-than that. Trump is saying: we can't afford to help families afford the basics, because we have to fight wars that he chose to start!

"We also have Trump admitting in an interview that gas prices may be higher in a few months because of his latest war. But for my Republican colleagues who can't bring themselves to watch Trump's interviews or read his posts, don't worry, because Trump's budget is sending the same pro-war, anti-family message-just with more numbers, fewer typos, fewer unhinged tangents attacking the pope, and no AI photos depicting Trump as Jesus.

"And I assure you: the values in this budget are just as morally bankrupt. Because Trump wants to defund programs that lower people's costs, while increasing war spending by half a trillion dollars. All told, he wants a $1.5 trillion defense budget. That is a trillion-that is twelve zeroes. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason for that number except that Trump liked the sound of it, woke up one day, and announced on Truth Social he'd seek one and a half trillion dollars for defense.

"It's really hard to put that number into perspective, but I'm going to try-because the tradeoffs could not be more stark. Instead of spending half a trillion dollars more on war, we could easily extend the health care tax credits that Republicans let expire, for many years to come. We could [build] millions of affordable new homes, or help millions of Americans afford quality child care, or just about end homelessness, or make sure that no kid in this country goes hungry. We could develop new cures and treatments for devastating diseases, or cut families' energy bills in half, or help students actually afford to go to college.

"Seriously-half a trillion dollars more for war is such a mind-boggling amount, that White House aides scrambled to even produce a request to meet Trump's number. There is no world in which the Pentagon can spend that kind of increase responsibly.

[CUTTING DOMESTIC PROGRAMS TO PAY FOR WAR]

"But blowing up the war budget-and blowing up the debt-is only half the story with Trump's absurd budget. Because while Trump's budget has plenty of cash for warmongering-while he is more than happy to shovel your tax dollars at defense contractors, Trump wants to cut funding for our schools. He wants to cut funding for medical research. He wants to cut funding for affordable housing programs. And a whole lot more.

"Truly-the only thing that might be more breathtaking than the amount of money Trump wants to spend warmongering abroad is the amount of damage he wants to do with those cuts here at home.

"There are entire programs that do real good for families across this country that Trump wants to turn into dust. A few examples:

• Trump wants to eliminate programs that help families pay their energy bills-which Trump has already sent skyrocketing with his tariffs, clean energy cuts, and now this war. Just last month, the price of home heating oil increased by 30 percent. 30 percent!
  
• Trump wants to eliminate nutrition assistance for our seniors-not even a year after Republicans made the largest SNAP cuts in history.
  
• Trump wants to eliminate the Title X program-cutting off access to family planning and preventive care, at the same time the Republican health care hike just pushed millions of people off their insurance, and extreme abortion bans that are putting women's lives in danger.
  
• Trump wants to eliminate housing supply programs-even as he wrecks the economy, sends inflation higher, and puts homeownership even farther out of reach.
  
• He also wants to eliminate roughly 30 K-12 programs-totaling over $6 billion in funding-including support for our homeless students, and our after school programs. Not to mention another 30 DOJ programs that help keep our communities safe.
  

"I could go on all day.

"And beyond the programs Trump wants to zero out completely, there are many others he just wants to cut down to the bone:

• He wants to cut NIH by $5.75 billion, he wants to cut CDC by a third, and cut funding for mental health, rural health, maternal health, even more. Think about that-Trump wants to slash funding to fight against disease so he can bankroll his war against Iran that no one asked for.
  
• At the same time Trump wants a record breaking, budget-busting half trillion dollar increase for war, he wants to cut COPS grants by a quarter-that will make our communities less safe.
  
• He wants to cut our National Parks by a third-that would eliminate 2,500 positions and put our national treasures at risk.
  
• He wants to slash EPA in half-that will let polluters run amok and put our families in danger.
  
• He wants to cut the Small Business Administration by two thirds-as if he hasn't already done enough damage to the economy.
  
• Or-when it comes to NASA-the world was just captivated by the ARTEMIS mission, sending humans further from Earth than ever before and preparing to return to the moon for the first time this century. Most of us in this country watched that mission and we were awe-struck. We watched and said 'Wow-this country can still inspire the world. We can still reach for the stars.' Well Trump watched that mission and he said-'Whatever, let's cut NASA by a quarter.'
  
• Not to mention other cuts to science, slashing the National Science Foundation in half, so we just let China continue to win when it comes to science and technology.
  
• Trump also wants to cut funding for Amtrak and for transit projects across the country.
  
• He wants to cut funding to address violence against women.
  
• He wants to slash WIC benefits that help our moms and kids get healthy food.
  
• He wants to practically eliminate federal funding for drinking water and sewer infrastructure-even as those old sewage pipes in DC nearly put our nation's Capital at risk.
  
• Not to mention he wants to rob states like mine of funding for critical projects. He is once again zeroing out funding for the Howard Hanson dam and he is trying to shortchange the Hanford cleanup. And once again-I will not stand for that.
  

"I cannot drive home enough how backwards this all of this is. Trump's budget has zero dollars-zero-to increase child care funding, but, again, he has got half a trillion dollars more to increase war spending.

"Not because we actually need that much to keep our country safe. But because Trump apparently likes starting wars and threatening to end civilizations. He likes sending our sons and daughters into Venezuela, and Iran, and who knows where next-without any sort of plan or any regard for the consequences, like those skyrocketing gas prices.

"That is not what Trump campaigned on. And it is not what anyone wants. And as long as I am on the Appropriations Committee-you can be darn sure it is not what we are going to be doing in our annual funding bills.

"Trump's budget request to blow half a trillion on wars across the world, while cutting programs here at home, belongs in the trash. And that is exactly where I intend to send it.

[MAJOR FUNDING CHALLENGES AHEAD AS NON-DEFENSE BUDGET IS PUSHED TO BRINK]

"But as we look ahead to FY27, we are staring down some major challenges-in many respects, even bigger challenges than we have faced in the past year.

"Because while Trump pushes a half-trillion-dollar war-spending bonanza, the reality is, that for three successive years now, our domestic budget has essentially remained flat-and that's in nominal terms. For three years in a row, Republicans have squeezed non-defense programs as much as possible while pushing for higher defense spending.

"Democrats have fought off countless cuts pitched by Trump and House Republicans, but the fact of the matter is when Republicans hold these programs roughly flat for three years, and inflation-not to mention tariffs and chaos-keeps raising costs, that is effectively a cut.

[DOMESTIC FUNDING SHORTFALLS]

"Over the last few years, we've turned over just about every couch cushion we can find to prevent cuts to child care or cancer research. But there are only so many cushions in that couch, and we will need significantly more funding for non-defense to simply tread water this year.

"For example, the Pell program is facing a $17 billion shortfall. If we don't address that, students are going to pay the price.

"Medical care for our veterans will cost many billions more. If we don't have more non-defense funding, we'll either shortchange veterans, or have to cut other programs that families count on.

"Housing costs as we all know, continue to rise and we will need more funds to simply tread water and keep serving the Americans who count on rental assistance. It's the same story for WIC-and so many other important programs that people count on.

[FAST-APPROACHING INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING CLIFF]

"And then, there is the massive infrastructure cliff that we are about to barrel over. Because the bipartisan infrastructure law that we passed about five years ago included tens of billions of dollars each year for key non-defense programs.

"Those programs and funds have supplemented our annual appropriations in an absolutely critical way, those funds run out in September.

"We are talking about resources to repair roads and bridges, expand public transit, lower energy costs, create good jobs, and invest in communities across this country-all gone in the blink of an eye.

"You know how many pages Trump spends planning to address that in his budget? Zero. None. That's unacceptable-and we cannot fail to address this infrastructure cliff and increase domestic investments that help families and put our communities first.

[MORE MONEY FOR FAMILIES, NOT WAR]

"And as we know, meanwhile-inflation is squeezing families across the board, electric bills are going up, tariffs have sent groceries prices higher and higher, child care is still expensive and hard to find, and health care premiums are skyrocketing.

"In the face of all of that, we have to put more resources into helping people out, not funding Trump's wars abroad.

"Do Republicans really want to give Trump's warmongering a blank check while giving families the short end of the stick? Because that's the basic pitch Trump has made.

"M. President, the problems with Trump's budget-are many. But it boils down to this: Trump would rob our families to pay for war-while still burdening our grandkids with mountains of debt-and for what? To make defense contractors rich? To buy more bombs Trump can threaten to 'end civilization' with?

"We should be building bridges here in America, not destroying them in Iran.

"We should be lowering costs here in America, not waging wars that send prices through the roof.

"We should be fighting a war against cancer, not another war in the Middle East.

"We should be investing in our working families, not funding whatever new war Trump decides to start.

[PATH AHEAD FOR FY27]

"So as we now start our appropriations process for FY27, I am going to be pressing Trump's cabinet about these backwards priorities. As with the previous fiscal years, I hope my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee can do what we do best, come together, and write common sense bills that put the priorities of American families and our communities first.

"As I said when I started, we are nearly there on Homeland Security funding, and we got this far despite the obstacles, because we have worked so closely in a bipartisan fashion to focus on what is important and what is needed, and truly what we can do best. And I look forward to working with my colleagues as we start the FY27 process.

"Throughout the process I will be clear with my colleagues that I want to work with you, but we have to write funding bills that-instead of slashing funding for families, provides significant new investments in the American people-especially as we face major shortfalls, a fast-approaching IIJA cliff, and rising prices that are hitting every family's budget.

"And instead of writing a blank check for whatever war Trump tries to start next, we have to write a measured, strategic defense budget focused on actually keeping our country safe."

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