President Trump has released the top-line amounts for his Fiscal Year 2026 budget request. While Congress will approve any final spending levels, the request represents the Trump administration’s ideal spending plan.
Overall, the president’s request includes massive increases in military spending, while decimating departments and agencies mandated by Congress to protect the health and well-being of millions of people in the United States.
Below is a statement by Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“This dangerous budget, on the heels of the illegal and destabilizing chaos created by Elon Musk and DOGE, illustrates the president’s utter callousness and total disregard for the basic federal government functions the public relies on to stay safe and healthy. It shows a lack of even a rudimentary understanding of how federally funded science protects the American public.
“This anti-science budget would slash funding for the EPA by 54%, cut NIH funding by nearly $18 billion and FEMA funding nearly $650 million. It would potentially destroy the Office of Science at DOE, and obliterate critical research and operations funding at NOAA, NIST, NASA, USGS, and the NSF that deliver huge public benefits. Cuts to healthcare, environmental protection, agriculture, clean energy, education and housing will compound harms—especially to those with the fewest resources, the most exposed to pollution, and on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
“Cuts to oversight and enforcement budgets, as well as the IRS, are simply designed to give blank checks to polluters and billionaires at the expense of the public. Meanwhile, billions of dollars are added for unneeded new nuclear weapons programs that would further fuel a growing nuclear arms race.
“The budget document is laced with racist, anti-science, petty, and cruel language that should be beneath the president of the United States. If enacted, the Trump plan would leave people across the nation at the mercy of the devastating impacts of climate change and unequipped with information that would help save lives and protect the economy.
“Slashing USAID and Department of State funding signals a complete retreat from U.S. responsibilities on the global stage—including related to public health and climate change—and would diminish the United States’ ability to secure cooperation from other nations, undermining diplomacy as a crucial path to solving major global challenges.
“Congress should immediately reject this non-starter of a budget. The administration’s devastating funding cuts and layoffs already have damaged the nation’s future by gutting its scientific foundation. If Congress passes anything resembling this budget, there will, in fact, be a whole lot more harm inflicted on the public.”