Trump's 2027 Budget Puts America Last

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare…It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare.” — President Trump, April 1, 2026

The President released his 2027 budget today, and it gets everything wrong. Instead of helping Americans who are struggling to pay for health care, gas, and groceries, the budget makes the affordability crisis worse. It puts American lives at risk to wage an illegal war in Iran and continues to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to operate unchecked on U.S. soil. It tees up another round of fast-track, partisan legislation to fund the war and ICE operations outside of the annual appropriations process. The President is using this process to avoid Congressional oversight and ignore the will of the American people.

Wrong on Prices

Since Trump took office, the economy, as experienced by everyday Americans, has taken a beating. Trump and Congressional Republicans threw 15 million people off their healthcare while cutting nutrition assistance and Medicaid. Their reconciliation bill made life harder for students and immigrants. Inflation, tariffs, and war have ballooned costs at the grocery store and the gas pump. This budget does nothing to soften the Trump economy’s blow to families’ wallets.

Wrong on Priorities

The budget provides $1.5 trillion for total defense in 2027. That’s a $445 billion (42 percent) increase from the 2026 level. It provides $1.1 trillion through appropriations, while seeking an additional $350 billion through the reconciliation process.

For non-defense appropriations, the budget provides $675 billion for 2027, a level the Administration touts as a 10 percent cut from the 2026 level for “base” appropriations. When compared with OMB’s estimate of what is required in total to maintain current services, that cut jumps to 24 percent.

Instead of helping Americans afford healthcare, the budget fails to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits. Further, the budget slashes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programs by 12 percent, hampering breakthrough medical research by cutting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding by $5 billion and eliminating critical programs that support disease prevention, mental health treatments, and other services.

Instead of helping Americans with skyrocketing utility bills, the budget cuts the Department of Energy by 11 percent and completely eliminates the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) within HHS.

Instead of helping Americans with rising housing costs, the budget cuts the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 13 percent. It eliminates the HOME Investment Partnership Program which creates more affordable and low-income housing. It fails to provide any relief to the expansive waitlist for housing vouchers while also eliminating Homeless Assistance Programs. 

Wrong on Policies

The budget doesn’t provide the traditional ten-year deficit projections. But piecing together separate revenue and spending assumptions scattered throughout the documents, the budget reflects deficits of $2.2 trillion in 2027 ($400 billion higher than the 2025 deficit) and $17.5 trillion over ten years (2027-2036). This is even with an overly rosy scenario of 3 percent annual growth in GDP.

Revenues from the Analytical Perspectives volume, chapter 8 and total outlays from chapter 15