Trump Calls for $163B in Cuts Next Year

President Trump unveiled a 2026 budget plan on Friday that calls for sweeping cuts to federal programs and an increase in defense spending. Some key highlights follow, though the Wall Street Journal offers a reminder that any presidential blueprint is largely a "symbolic wish list" meant to lay out priorities. Congress has the final say on spending. Details:

• Cuts: Trump proposes $163 billion in cuts—roughly 23%—to "nondefense discretionary" spending, per the Washington Post. This category excludes defense spending, as well as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, all of which make up the bulk of government spending.
• Specifics: Instead, the cuts would hit entities such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the education department, and the US Agency for International Development, notes Axios. In many cases, the moves "codify" cuts that were put into place this year by the Department of Government Efficiency, notes the Post.

• Boost for Kennedy: Trump calls for big cuts National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the CDC's budget getting slashed from $9 billion to $4 billion, per the New York Times. But the plan includes $500 million for Make America Healthy Again, an initiative of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Defense: Trump wants $1.01 trillion for defense spending, an increase of 13%, per ABC News.
• FBI changes: Trump would cut $500 million from the FBI, notes the Times, with the White House saying it "is committed to undoing the weaponization" of the agency it says took place under former President Biden.

(More President Trump stories.)