Trump’s Federal Fiscal Agenda: Massive Cuts, Expanding Executive Power

Tracking federal spending in the Trump era is like playing Minesweeper on expert mode—except the board resets every five minutes, and someone deleted the undo button.

First, the President is attempting to withhold or redirect certain FY2025 funds that conflict with his executive orders. This includes implementing "DOGE cuts"—spending reductions proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency—a move that has prompted multiple legal challenges and is currently being contested in federal courts across the country.

Next, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a proposed budget reconciliation measure projected to increase the federal deficit by approximately $3.8 trillion over the next decade, while also stripping health care coverage and food assistance from millions of working Americans—all to provide tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the ultra-wealthy.

Compounding the complexity, the White House released its FY2026 budget proposal without key details—lacking long-term economic projections, comprehensive agency funding data, defense spending allocations, and information about mandatory programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Layered on top of this are several urgent deadlines: a looming debt ceiling, threats of presidential impoundment if Congress does not comply with his demands, and a September 30 deadline to pass the FY2026 budget. If reconciliation moves forward, mandatory federal PAYGO spending cuts—totaling up to $230 billion, including the largest Medicare reductions since the program’s inception—would be finalized in January 2026.

As a reminder, passing the FY2026 budget (or a PAYGO waiver) will require Democratic votes in the U.S. Senate—and possibly in the House. It’s also unlikely that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will concede again, as he did in March when Republicans walked away from bipartisan negotiations and dared Democrats to risk a government shutdown.

Reconciliation Outlook

Before turning back to the FY2026 budget proposal, let’s examine where reconciliation stands. GOP senators face several choices, with the primary decision being whether to amend the bill. This seems likely, given that multiple Republican senators oppose specific provisions—such as Medicaid cuts, SALT cap changes, increased SNAP costs, clean energy rollbacks, and a desire for deeper spending reductions.

If the bill is amended, the House must vote again to pass the revised version before it reaches the President. Meanwhile, political pressure will escalate as the debt ceiling deadline approaches—expected in August, with the U.S. Treasury urging action by mid-July. If the Senate fails to act, a standalone bill to raise the debt ceiling will be required, necessitating 60 Senate votes and giving Democrats leverage.

Key Proposed FY2026 Budget Cuts

Poverty Reduction

The President proposes eliminating all funding for the Community Services Block Grant—a program initiated during the Reagan administration to consolidate anti-poverty initiatives and give states more control. In the Cleveland area, these funds primarily support Step Forward, an agency focused on early childhood education, energy assistance, and community support services.

Housing

The budget includes a $26.7 billion reduction in federal rental assistance programs, including Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, public housing, and project-based rental assistance—amounting to a 40% cut in total rental aid.

Community Development

The proposal eliminates the $3.3 billion Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Cleveland receives nearly $19.5 million in CDBG funds annually, which support community development corporations (CDCs) that provide home repairs, business assistance, and neighborhood revitalization.

HIV/AIDS

The President’s budget proposes a $190 million reduction to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a $15 million cut to the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, and a $532 million reduction in the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program—including a two-year cap on services. These cuts threaten housing stability and access to care for people living with HIV. Additionally, there are sweeping reductions to the CDC and NIH, undermining prevention and treatment efforts.

Energy Assistance

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) would be eliminated under the proposed budget, cutting all $4 billion in federal support. LIHEAP currently helps around 6 million low-income households with heating and cooling costs. In Ohio, approximately 265,000 households relied on LIHEAP in 2023, many of them in cities like Cleveland. The President has already laid off the program's entire staff.

What Comes Next?

When a federal budget includes sweeping cuts across essential programs—from housing and energy assistance to HIV services and community development—it can overwhelm the public, the media, and lawmakers alike. This “flood-the-zone” strategy makes it harder to mount effective opposition. Advocacy groups must defend multiple priorities at once, often without the unified messaging needed to convey the full, cumulative impact.

Advocates must reframe the debate—not as a series of isolated cuts, but as a systemic threat to working families and vulnerable communities. In Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, this means highlighting real human consequences: families losing housing support, seniors unable to heat their homes, or neighborhoods being denied revitalization funding.

It also means engaging key decision-makers. Representative Dave Joyce, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and chair of one of its subcommittees, wields considerable influence over the final budget. His leadership role and representation of parts of Northeast Ohio make him a critical figure for constituents and organizations to engage in the fight to preserve federal support for Greater Cleveland and the nation.

Both Republicans and Democrats have argued that budgets are more than spreadsheets—they are moral documents that reflect a nation's values. The President’s proposed FY2026 budget marks a stark shift in those values, prioritizing the powerful at the expense of the most vulnerable. As deadlines approach and negotiations intensify, it is critical that lawmakers, advocates, and everyday citizens resist the urge to treat these cuts as abstract numbers. We must insist on a budget that invests in people, preserves community infrastructure, and safeguards the basic dignity of all Americans. The stakes are high, and the consequences will be felt not in theory, but in homes, clinics, and classrooms across Greater Cleveland—and throughout the country.