Trump’s “Skinny Budget” and the Fallout Yet to Come
IN BRIEF: On May 2, President Donald Trump submitted to Congress his Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 “skinny” budget, outlining some of his funding priorities. In a shocking and unprecedented departure from previous administrations in modern times, the president’s fiscal blueprint, if passed, would slash approximately $163 billion — more than 20% — from non-defense federal programs, including those that support housing, health, education, criminal justice, civil rights enforcement, and scientific research. At the same time, the budget proposal prioritizes nearly $120 billion more in military funding.
WHY IT MATTERS: Over the more than 100 days since President Trump took office, his administration has worked overtime to wage a vicious campaign attacking civil and human rights and pushing the boundaries of the rule of law. President Trump’s “skinny budget” fits this mold — precisely the kind of budget the administration would propose — and certainly does not come without substantial danger or consequence if implemented. In the name of gutting so-called “woke” programs, President Trump’s fiscal announcement marks an affirmation of his vow to advance a regressive agenda that dials back civil rights progress and harms everyday people.
The proposal would cut tens of billions in funding that millions rely on daily to access critical resources, including clean water, affordable housing, health care, public education, and civil rights enforcement. Federal programs and resources, including the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Energy, and Medicare and Medicaid Services, would see drastic cuts or elimination altogether. These extreme slashes to vital federal programs would disproportionately impact Black communities and other marginalized communities that are already vulnerable, underfunded, and underserved.
President Trump’s budget proposal notably includes cuts within the key impact areas of economic justice, criminal justice, education, and political participation in LDF’s civil rights portfolio. Some details of the proposed cuts across these areas are below.
Economic Justice
President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal would make it harder to thrive economically in part by ending the Minority Business Development Agency, which provides technical assistance to entrepreneurs seeking to launch and grow their companies; limiting access to rental assistance; enabling housing discrimination; and halting grants and other funding related to economic stability and safe, affordable living for communities — especially those that are low-income and underserved.
Education
The budget proposal would abdicate the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that students receive equal opportunity in education by slashing public school funding and decimating civil rights enforcement in school districts. It also cuts funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The proposal cuts $12 billion from the Department of Education, $4.5 billion in federal grant programs to K-12 public schools, and $64 million in funding to Howard University, an HBCU. It also dramatically decreases funding to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and eliminates funding for some programs that advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
Political Participation
President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal would undermine and fail to protect citizens’ voting rights by cutting funding to DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, including the Voting Section meant to address racial discrimination in the political process. The DOJ has already dismissed several lawsuits filed to address voter disenfranchisement and drastically reduced the number of staff assigned to the Civil Rights Division and Voting Section in particular, leaving it without experienced leadership to enforce critical voting federal protections.
Criminal Justice
Trump’s proposed budget would undermine public safety and deepen persistent inequities within the criminal justice system by cutting over $1 billion from DOJ grant programs, including those that advance restorative justice and community-centered approaches to advancing justice. It would also cut more than $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in support of criminalization over evidence-based practices to treating mental health and substance abuse. The proposal also dangerously undercuts the severity of hate crimes by seeking to eliminate hate crime prevention programs and dismissively referring to them as “so-called hate crimes.”
ON THE HORIZON: President Trump’s “skinny” budget is a proposal to Congress, not a binding contract, and lawmakers, policy leaders, and advocates have the right and responsibility to challenge it. Many congressional leaders have denounced the proposal and cited the enormous burden the plan would put on everyday Americans across the political aisle to access the resources they need to live and thrive. In addition to other civil and human rights organizations’ condemnations, the National Immigrant Justice Center decried the proposal’s dangerous cuts to critical public services and dramatic increases to immigration enforcement.
LDF AT WORK: LDF continues to fight back against the Trump administration’s threats to civil rights and racial justice — and recently released a comprehensive list of the actions it has taken over the past 100 days to counter this administration’s egregious attacks. LDF Director of Policy Demetria McCain also denounced the president’s budget proposal in a recent statement, saying: “With drastic cuts across the board to nearly every federal agency — with some losing hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in funding — President Trump proposes that the federal government abdicate its fundamental responsibility to ensure equal opportunity for all.”
McCain further cited President Trump’s anti-woke rhetoric as a dog whistle for anti-Black racism and urged Congress to reject the divisive agenda in the best interest of all Americans. As McCain emphasized, it is critical that our elected officials not permit this budget process to perpetuate the harms already being inflicted on the American people by this administration.
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