White House seeks massive increase in defense spending and looks to slash housing, social services and health care
By Tami Luhby, Adam Cancryn, CNN
(CNN) — The White House is seeking roughly $1.5 trillion for defense as part of a fiscal 2027 budget request — a proposal that would boost military spending to its highest point in modern history as the Trump administration wages its war with Iran.
The blueprint released Friday — a largely symbolic reflection of the president’s priorities — would increase the government’s defense spending by more than 40% compared to last year. It aims to bolster munitions and build out the US naval fleet while also beginning construction on President Donald Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system. It would also provide hefty raises of between 5% and 7% for all military personnel to help with recruitment and retention.
Of the $445 billion that the administration wants to add to the defense budget, the White House is proposing that $350 billion of it be passed as part of forthcoming legislation that Republicans are planning to pass using a maneuver that requires only a majority vote in the Senate — and therefore would not need Democratic support.
The historic defense spending levels come amid the ongoing war with Iran, signaling little interest within the White House to shift attention and resources elsewhere, despite Trump’s repeated assurance that he plans to wind down the fighting in the Middle East within weeks.
The budget proposals for other agencies also reflect the administration’s interest in bolstering the nation’s defense systems.
For instance, the Department of Energy budget floats increasing funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration by over $3.5 billion to develop new warheads, modernize existing ones and develop new technology for future US naval systems.
The annual White House budget amounts to an administration wish list that is rarely enacted in full by Congress, which retains control over government spending and has often ignored whole swaths of the administration’s blueprint in the past.
Deep cuts to ‘woke’ programs
The budget proposal, by contrast, seeks to slash nondefense spending by 10% — a $73 billion cut that would primarily affect housing, social services, health care and other domestic programs that the administration has derided as “woke” — a word that is mentioned 34 times in the 92-page document.
Among the safety net programs that would be eliminated are the $4 billion Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which Trump targeted last year but Congress retained, and the $775 million Community Services Block Grant, which aims to reduce poverty and promote self-sufficiency.
The proposal for the Energy Department includes cutting and repurposing billions of dollars from former President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law. The budget would cancel $15 billion of DOE funding from that bill and repurpose over $4.5 billion. It would also eliminate over $1 billion for climate and clean energy research at the Office of Science.
Trump’s budget proposes cutting the Environmental Protection Agency’s funding in half, eliminating a wide array of environmental programs. That would include its superfund program, state revolving funds for clean water and its environmental justice programs, which the budget says promotes “divisive racial discrimination.”
The budget would cut the Interior Department by around 12% but includes billions for one of Trump’s pet projects: beautifying Washington. The proposal suggests a $10 billion mandatory fund to build “targeted, priority construction and beautifcation projects in and around Washington DC.”
The proposal also calls for cuts to housing programs aimed at helping low-income Americans and people experiencing homelessness, but funnels $5 million into the Melania Trump Foster Youth to Independence Initiative.
Other Trump priorities — like increased privatization of TSA
The budget also includes cuts for both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Both of those Department of Homeland Security components have faced previous funding reductions.
At FEMA, which the Trump administration has consistently proposed reorganizing, the proposed budget includes cuts to non-disaster grant programs — including those intended to provide services to migrants released from DHS custody, which the White House says were responsible for funding “mass illegal migration” into the United States, and a program intended to help local communities identify potential terrorists or domestic extremists, which the White House said was “weaponized to target Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.”
The blueprint also calls for starting the privatization of the Transportation Security Administration’s airport screeners by requiring small airports to enroll in the Screening Partnership Program, under which TSA pays for private screeners. Currently, 20 airports — including San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Orlando Sanford — are in the program. The TSA officers’ union has feared that the administration would ramp up efforts to privatize the force.
The president’s proposed budget would cut $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and eliminate several institutes at the Department of Health and Human Services, all of which the administration accuses of wasteful spending on diversity and inclusion research — previous targets of broad and abrupt DOGE cuts. Congress ignored Trump’s proposal last year to slash support for the institutes.
And Trump would cut an additional $1.4 billion in funding from the Internal Revenue Service, which he has long accused of being “weaponized” against Americans. Plus, he would eliminate $4.2 billion in subsidies for electric vehicle chargers.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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CNN’s Ella Nilsen, Michael Williams, Betsy Klein and Sarah Owermohle contributed to this story.
