Taxpayers for Common Sense President Steve Ellis’ statement on the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 “Skinny” Budget Request. The Skinny Budget is issued in the first year of a new Presidency and is followed weeks later by the full Budget Request with the detailed information lawmakers need to write the annual spending bills to fund the government.

The President’s “skinny” budget request for fiscal year 2026 is long on rhetoric and short on details. This year’s version leans heavily on political talking points—taking aim at so-called “woke” programs and the “Green New Scam,” while proposing a massive Pentagon spending hike to pay for wasteful fantasies like the Golden Dome and diverting military resources to immigration enforcement missions. At the same time, it seeks to reframe the federal-state relationship, cutting federal support in ways that will shift more costs to state and local governments.

The real test will come when the full budget is released, detailing how this spending will be doled out, new revenue proposals, and the scale of projected deficits facing the country.

Fiscal year 2026 is only five months away. Lawmakers need substance, not slogans, to write the dozen annual spending bills to fund government—and put the nation on a more sustainable fiscal path. Instead, lawmakers are currently debating how many trillions to add to the national debt extending tax cuts and adding new spending in budget reconciliation.

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Taxpayers for Common Sense is a nonpartisan budget watchdog calling out wasteful spending and advocating for transparency.