Trump budget proposal aims to cut $163 billion, mirroring DOGE plan
Trump was expected to release a budget proposal outlining $163 billion in spending cuts that mirrored recommendations from Elon Musk and DOGE.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump unveiled a budget blueprint with $163 billion in spending cuts that mirror the reductions he’s made from firing federal workers and dismantling U.S. government agencies.

The proposed cuts to non-military programs for the year starting Oct. 1 span an array from the environment, education, foreign aid and health care. Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency have already targeted many of those programs, which the budget aims to make permanent even as the world’s richest man plans to step back from his administration efforts.

But the May 2 proposal comes after courts have blocked many of those cuts. Even Republican lawmakers who lead Congress have begun voicing concerns about cutting some of the rejected programs.

The Defense Department’s budget would increase 13% to $1 trillion, with the goals of strengthening security, deterring aggression from China and revitalizing the U.S. industrial base. The Department of Homeland Security would receive an additional $175 billion to secure the border, under the Trump budget plan.

Overall, the budget lays out $1.45 trillion for Trump’s discretionary priorities, what it describes as a 10% drop from spending enacted this year. But the figures are proposals rather than set in stone for the next fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Congress will determine spending levels – which Trump so far has treated as ceilings rather than requirements – during debates that could last until the end of the year.

Lawmakers will be debating tax cuts at the same time, which will complicate all the discussions. Trump has proposed extending tax cuts from his first administration, which would otherwise expire at the end of the year, and a slew of new proposals costing trillions more dollars such as no longer taxing Social Security benefits or tips on service jobs.