Trump’s 2026 Budget Request Will Harm Health of Americans May 2, 2025

For Immediate Release

Contact: Paige Knappenberger, pknappenberger@psr.org

WASHINGTON – The President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request is an assault on health and equity. Many of these cuts are blatant attacks that target the most vulnerable among us, namely people of color, low income individuals, the LGBTQ+ community, and undocumented immigrants. 

Environmental justice programming has essentially been eliminated from the federal government, leaving the most polluted communities to fend for themselves against major polluters. This is only a fraction of the proposed 54.5% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency. Despite the constant reminders of climate change, from worsening natural disasters to heat waves, this budget request significantly decreases funding to study climate impacts and eliminates all renewable energy programs at the Department of Interior.

Additional health-harming cuts include:

• The Department of Health and Human Services would lose 26.2% or $33 billion in funding
• Elimination of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that serves approximately 6 million people
• Cuts to funding at the National Institute of Health of nearly $18 million, over $5 billion from the National Science Foundation, and $3.5 billion, from the Center for Disease Control, nearly half of the agency’s budget
• And a $674 million cut to Medicare and Medicaid, the Administration claims will not impact the benefits of these programs, but would cut funding to outreach and education that are essential to users of these programs

All of these cuts take place while the Trump administration plans to increase military defense spending by $113 billion. This 13% increase is the largest in FY2026 from the previous year, with defense spending now totalling more than $1 trillion. 

Through this request, the Trump administration aims to continue the illegal impoundment of funds that have already been allocated by Congress through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. The politicization of these funds and the federal agencies that manage them is yet another dangerous act of executive overreach and threatens American investment in clean energy. 

Congress should reject this proposal outright and develop a FY26 budget that protects the health of all Americans.