US President Donald Trump on Friday eyed massive cuts targeting “woke” and “wasteful” spending in his first budget blueprint since he returned to power, while boosting defence and border security.
Republican Trump aims to cut non-defence spending by a huge US$163 billion – or 22 per cent – in 2026 as he digs in on the conservative, cost-cutting drive led by billionaire Elon Musk.
Trump would also massively cut foreign aid even while stepping up defence spending to US$1.01 trillion and pouring money into homeland security as part of his anti-immigration drive.
But the budget proposal is more of a wish list at the start of Trump’s second term and he faces a bitter battle in Congress, with Democrats calling it a “gut punch” that hammers health and education.
The White House said that many of the proposed cuts stemmed from the radical efforts by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to slash the US government.
“We’re joined at the hip with Doge,” an official from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget told reporters in a call on condition of anonymity.
