Trump Plans Major Cuts: More Money for Military, Less for Space

• This will be Donald Trump’s first budget since taking office, and the president wants the spending plan to help him fulfill campaign promises.
• The administration wants to cut NASA spending by more than $6 billion. The biggest changes could affect science programs worth almost $2.3 billion.
• Meanwhile, the US President has announced that he plans to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status.

The White House proposal would raise defense spending by 13 percent and homeland security spending by nearly 65 percent above 2025 levels.

Trump wants to keep his promises, and the country has a large debt

The so-called "lean budget" is an outline of the new administration's priorities that will allow Republican congressmen to begin working on a budget bill.

As Reuters points out, this will be Donald Trump's first budget since taking office. The president wants the spending plan to help him fulfill campaign promises to increase spending on the military and border security while cutting federal bureaucracy.

"At this critical moment, we need a historic budget. One that no longer funds the decline of the United States, but puts Americans first and provides unprecedented support for our military and homeland security," said Office of Budget Management Director Russ Vought.

Meanwhile, the federal government is grappling with a growing national debt that has topped $36 trillion , and some fiscal conservatives and budget experts worry that Trump’s tax cut plans without sufficient spending cuts will only make it bigger.

NASA Budget Down 25 Percent. What About the Moon Flight?

President Donald Trump's proposed budget for next year includes sweeping cuts to many NASA programs.

As Bloomberg reported, the administration wants to reduce spending on NASA by more than $6 billion compared to what the agency received for 2025. Reducing the agency's budget to $18.8 billion would force it to make cuts across its entire portfolio , but the biggest changes could affect science programs worth almost $2.3 billion.

In the budget plan, the White House calls on NASA to phase out Boeing’s “exorbitantly expensive and delayed” Space Launch System heavy lift rocket and Lockheed Martin’s Orion crew capsule after just three flights . Trump proposes replacing them with “more cost-effective commercial systems.”

Influential members of Congress, such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Representative Brian Babin, are staunchly defending the current plan to return to the moon, which includes the SLS rocket and Orion capsule, potentially leading to a major funding battle for NASA.

The administration also wants to cancel the Gateway project , a new space station that would be placed near the moon, and NASA's long-term plan to bring Martian soil samples to Earth, known as Mars Sample Return.

The FBI's budget would be cut by $500 million as part of "ending the use of justice as a weapon."

As Politico writes, the "dramatic" and "unprecedented" cuts would affect environmental initiatives and investments in renewable energy sources, a network of electric car chargers, education, and foreign aid programs. The bill also codifies part of the DOGE team's suspension of spending made without congressional approval.

Donald Trump Wants to Take Away Harvard's Tax Privilege

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced Friday that he plans to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status. The school said in a statement that the move would be unlawful and unprecedented, and would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America, including reduced funding for student scholarships, medical research and technological advancement .