Republicans mull federal cuts to FBI, IRS, abortion services and more
By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square
President Donald Trump’s loaded Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal that includes $163 billion in cuts across the federal government has garnered support from multiple Republicans involved in the budget drafting process.
Although the president’s 46-page budget plan is incomplete, it already contains multiple suggestions that GOP lawmakers have advocated for years, such as supporting charter schools; ending funds to abortion providers; and slashing foreign aid programs related to diversity, climate, or gender initiatives.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., called Trump’s largely symbolic framework “a clear starting point” as congressional appropriators prepare to assemble the 12 appropriations bills that provide money for federal agencies to spend on programs each year.
Lawmakers never passed a Fiscal Year 2025 budget, instead passing three consecutive Continuing Resolutions to keep the government open until Sept. 30.
Republican appropriators must now decide by that date which items from Trump’s budget laundry list to incorporate. Some budget recommendations that GOP lawmakers may find attractive include:
• Nearly $18 billion in cuts to gender ideology and race-related initiatives within the National Institute of Health.
• More than $15 billion in cuts or clawbacks related to renewable energy and climate programs established under the Biden administration.
• $2.4 billion in cuts to U.S. foreign aid, targeting “wasteful and woke” programs.
• $6.2 billion in cuts to global family planning programs, which the administration says will “[prevent] a pro-abortion agenda from being promoted abroad with taxpayer dollars.”
• $1.9 billion in cuts to Refugee and Unaccompanied Alien Children Programs, which the administration says enabled human trafficking.
• $3.5 billion in cuts to “woke” and duplicative programs within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• $1 billion in cuts to “harm reduction” drug programs within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
• $2.4 billion in cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s State Revolving Fund because, according to the administration, “the States should be responsible for funding their own water infrastructure projects.”
• $2.4 billion in cuts to the IRS.
• $545 million in cuts to the FBI to “reform and streamline” the agency.
• $247 million in cuts to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) due to failed audits.
• $468 million in cuts to offices focused on gun control within the ATF.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, called Trump’s proposal “a battle plan for restoring economic freedom and fiscal sanity.”
But Democrats called the budget “a disaster,” with Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., claiming that “Americans will die” if the renewable energy program cuts in Trump’s budget proposal are enacted
“Trump doesn’t believe in government, and this budget continues his relentless assault on the federal agencies whose mission it is to protect the health and well-being of the American people,” Pallone said in a statement.