Senator Gillibrand Statement On President Trump’s Preliminary Budget Request

Senator Gillibrand Statement On President Trump's Preliminary Budget Request

May 2, 2025

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on President Trump's fiscal year 2026 preliminary budget request, which proposes slashing critical investments in programs related to education, health, affordable housing, scientific research, environmental protection, and much more. The Trump administration says this proposal will cut domestic funding by $163 billion (-23%); however, the real cut may exceed $200 billion.

"President Trump's budget is playing games with American lives. By attempting to defund the programs that help communities stay safe, families pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads, and doctors treat their patients, this administration is abandoning the people who have built our country. Make no mistake - this budget proposal will not 'make America great again' - it will set us back decades and make life harder for working families.

By slashing funding for basic needs like health programs, medical research, and nutrition aid, this proposal will make America sicker. By cutting billions of dollars for the Department of Education, removing investments to prevent violent crime, and divesting from agencies that protect our environment, it will make our country a worse place to live. And by eliminating affordable housing and energy assistance programs, divesting from small businesses, and gutting the funds that help economically distressed communities, it will make it harder for American families to survive.

This administration has made it clear: they're willing to cut at least $163 billion in vital investments that benefit everyday Americans just to deliver trillions in tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. That's not just misguided policy; it's an insult to every hardworking, tax-paying American.

I am committed to working with my colleagues in Congress to firmly reject this dangerous proposal. We cannot stand idly by while the Trump administration eviscerates the programs that keep our country safe, healthy, and prosperous."

Among other things, President Trump's preliminary FY2026 budget request:

EDUCATION: Guts funding for the Department of Education by $12 billion (-15%). Eliminates and cuts dozens of elementary and secondary education programs (the vast majority of which are not specified), underscoring that President Trump's vision for returning education to the states means state and local taxpayers will pay more to support students and educators at their local schools as a result of major cuts in federal funding. Eliminates several higher education programs, including TRIO, GEAR UP, Federal Work Study, Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS), and more, which help Americans pursue a postsecondary education and further their careers.

HOUSING: Eviscerates the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a 43.6% cut.

1. Slashes HUD rental assistance programs by 42.8% while foisting responsibility over those programs onto state and local governments. Over 10 million Americans rely on HUD rental assistance, the vast majority of whom are seniors, people with disabilities, and children. This will rip the roofs off Americans' heads and put even more families at risk of homelessness.
2. Eliminates or cuts federal programs most targeted to build more affordable housing and address this country's housing supply shortage, including in Tribal country.
3. Eliminates the Community Development Block Grant that cities and towns across the country use to improve the quality of life for their citizens every day.

HEALTH: Slashes funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by $33 billion (-26%).

1. Cuts funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $18 billion or more than 40%-decimating funding for lifesaving medical treatments and cures.
2. Decimates funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by cutting $3.6 billion-hollowing out the agency's ability to save lives and protect Americans from health threats.
3. Guts funding for substance use prevention and treatment and mental health services by $1 billion (roughly -15%) and eliminates the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration-the agency with expertise in tackling the substance use and mental health crises.
4. Slashes funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by $674 million. CMS helps ensure over 100 million Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health insurance by overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
5. The limited budget materials do not detail President Trump's proposed funding level for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is essential for protecting the safety of our food and drugs.

TITLE X: Eliminates the Title X program, which helps nearly 3 million patients get preventative care, birth control, cancer screenings, and more in every state.

LIHEAP: Eliminates the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps 6 million American households heat and cool their homes.

PRE-K: Eliminates all funding for Preschool Development Grants, which help states strengthen their early childhood education system and get parents the child care and pre-K they need. The limited budget materials released today don't mention Head Start or the Child Care and Development Block Grant, but leaked budget documents show Trump wants to eliminate Head Start.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR: Slashes funding for DOL by $4.6 billion (-35%). Proposes to "Make America Skilled Again" by cutting workforce training programs that help Americans develop skills and secure good-paying jobs, by roughly a third. Eliminates Job Corps and the Senior Community Service Employment Program.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Slashes the Department of Justice's (DOJ) budget by at least $3.7 billion (-10%).

1. Guts funding for grants to help keep communities safe by over $1 billion (-26%).
2. Cuts funding for FBI salaries and expenses by $545 million (-5%), endangering our Americans' safety.
3. Cuts funding for Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) salaries and expenses by $212 million (-7%), weakening the agency's capacity to crack down on drug trafficking. Also proposes shuttering major DEA offices in countries around the world, noting that those countries "are equipped to counter drug trafficking on their own."
4. Cuts funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) salaries and expenses by $468 million (-29%) as part of the administration's ongoing attempt to dismantle the agency in charge of enforcing our country's gun laws.

TRIBES: Slashes $911 million (-24%) for core Tribal programs that uphold the federal government's legally-obligated and court-ordered trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal nations. This cut would decimate core Tribal programs including road maintenance, housing, and programs for children and families. The proposal would nearly eliminate funding for construction of Tribal schools, which are already too often dilapidated, and it cuts Tribal law enforcement funding by 20%.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: More than halves funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a $5.2 billion (-57%) cut. Cuts funding for the Department of Energy's Office of Science by $1.148 billion (-14%). These proposed cuts would decimate America's edge in essential scientific research that will drive future economic growth.

EPA: Cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by more than half by abandoning state and Tribal programs that build and maintain drinking water and sewer systems, starving states of longstanding federal funding provided to pay for states' work enforcing federal laws, and decimating funding for cleaning up toxic Superfund sites. The request would also effectively eliminate research funding used to better understand the impacts on human health from polluted air and water and from toxic chemicals.

NATIONAL PARKS: Cuts $900 million (- 30%) from National Park Service operations, abandoning national parks that the administration says should suddenly be transferred to the states, while providing no funding for states to manage massive new obligations that such a dramatic move would entail. This would incentivize states to sell off public lands to the highest bidder, threatening valued open space and areas of natural and historical value to local communities.

AGRICULTURE: Guts funding for agricultural research, which is critical to ensuring American agriculture is competitive with the rest of the world and provides key resources to help farmers and ranchers prepare and adapt in an uncertain environment. Zeroes out foreign food aid that supports American farmers and is a lifeline for people living in extreme poverty across the world.

RURAL AMERICA: Slashes investments in core Rural Development programs by $721 million, including investments in safe drinking water, affordable housing, and resources to bolster the rural economy.

NUTRITION: Eliminates the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides food assistance to low-income individuals 60 years of age and older to supplement diets and addressing potential nutrient deficiencies. The preliminary budget request does not mention any of the other 16 Nutrition Programs, including WIC, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the National School Lunch Program.

VETERANS: Without more details, it is unclear whether the President is proposing to shift tens of billions of dollars in funding for veterans' care to mandatory funding (which Republicans have long vociferously opposed) or to decimate funding for non-medical care.

FOREST SERVICE: Cuts $1.386 billion (-22%) from the Forest Service, gutting grant funding for state and tribal wildfire risk reduction, volunteer fire departments, and much more. The proposal would cut at least 2,000 National Forest System staff positions, which will severely harm the Administration's stated goals of improving forest management and increasing domestic timber production.

ARMY CORPS: Cuts funding for the Army Corps of Engineers by $2 billion (-23%), slashing funding used to maintain our nation's ports and harbors.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: Cuts funding for the Department of Commerce by $1.9 billion (-18%). Outright eliminates the Economic Development Administration (EDA), which helps economically distressed communities across America get ahead.

NOAA: Guts funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by $1.5 billion, which would eliminate all manner of programs that create good jobs, help local economies, and support ocean research, health, and coastal resilience. Proposes a reckless $209 million cut for NOAA's weather satellites, which play a critical role in ensuring Americans have accurate weather forecasting and will result in a gap in observations when the current satellites retire early in the next decade.

ENERGY: Slashes funding for the Department of Energy overall by $4.7 billion (-9.4%). Guts funding for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs by $2.572 billion (-74%) and proposes to rescind $15.25 billion from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law energy programs, which will raise energy costs for American consumers by halting vital innovation and energy projects.

SMALL BUSINESSES: Slashes funding for SBA's Entrepreneurial Development Programs by $167 million, proposing the elimination of nearly all programs, including programs that support veterans as they work to start and grow a small business.

FEMA GRANTS: Cuts funding for FEMA non-disaster grants that help communities prepare for disasters, support efforts to prevent violence and terrorism, prepare emergency responders, and more.

STATE DEPARTMENT & FOREIGN ASSISTANCE: Guts funding for the State Department and America's international security, economic, and humanitarian assistance programs by $31.2 billion (-48%).

1. The United States already spends less than 0.2% of our GDP on diplomacy and foreign assistance, which is less than a third of the percent we spent under President Reagan's peace through strength approach, and Trump is proposing to halve these critical investments.
2. Cuts funding for lifesaving and other humanitarian assistance by $4.7 billion (-54%), which will lead to preventable deaths and suffering across the globe, and threaten Americans' safety and well-being by undercutting our efforts to stop disease outbreaks and prevent conflict. A cut of this magnitude will also lead to more migration of people fleeing poverty, conflict, and natural disasters.
3. Cuts funding for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement account by $1.3 billion (-91%) which helps prevent human trafficking, stop drug trafficking, and much more, with direct implications for American communities.
4. Slashes economic growth and development funding across multiple agencies and accounts by $6 billion (67%) and proposes the final dissolution of USAID.
5. Guts funding for global health initiatives by $6.2 billion (-62%).
6. Reneges on our treaty dues for the United Nations (UN), U.N. Peacekeeping operations, and a majority of other international organizations.

COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT: Eliminates all funding ($770 million) for community-based anti-poverty programs that help low income individuals and families access services to alleviate the causes of poverty.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS: Eliminates $291 million in funding for all current CDFI financial assistance awards, which help leverage private capital to support the development of child care centers, housing, health care facilities, and small businesses. Since 2010, CDFIs have financed over 1.3 million businesses and 557,000 affordable homes.

AMERICORPS: Eliminates AmeriCorps, which enables over 200,000 Americans to help serve communities across the country, including by responding to natural disasters, supporting veterans, fighting the opioid epidemic, helping older Americans age with dignity, and working in our schools, educating and supporting students.

CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING: Eliminates funding for CPB, ending support for more than 1,500 local public television and radio stations.

INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES: Eliminates funding for IMLS and the support provided to libraries and museums throughout the United States.

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: Cuts funding for the Bureau by $600 million (-34%), gutting investments in key restoration projects.

CULTURAL GRANTS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES: Completely eliminates the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which provide funding for every state and every congressional district for cultural economic development and the creative economy.

NASA: Cuts NASA funding by $6 billion (-24%), the largest single-year cut to NASA in U.S. history, which would mark an incredible retreat for American leadership and ambition in space. Terminates the Artemis Campaign to establish a human presence on the Moon after the Artemis III mission. Slashes funding for the Science Mission Directorate by $3.43 billion (-47%), which would cancel numerous current and planned missions to better understand our universe, solar system, and Earth.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Eliminates funding to 27 states by zeroing out funding for 6 of 7 regional commissions, which provide grants in economically distressed communities for disaster mitigation, opioid crisis support programming, workforce training, and much more.

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE: Likely cuts IRS enforcement by nearly $2.5 billion (-89%). This significant reduction will help billionaire tax cheats game the system while working families continue to pay their fair share.

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