Heinrich, Luján Statement on President Trump’s 2026 Budget Request

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) released the following statement on President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Preliminary BudgetRequest, which proposes slashing critical investments that benefit New Mexico families to fund massive tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk:

"Donald Trump’s budget doesn’t put New Mexico families first — it jeopardizes Medicaid and slashes nutrition programs and services hardworking people rely on, all to fund massive tax handouts to Trump, Elon Musk, and their billionaire donors.

“This proposal would drive up the cost of health care, groceries, housing, and utilities; gut public school and pre-K funding; defund cancer research; weaken law enforcement’s ability to fight drug trafficking; and strip resources from wildland firefighters, farmers, Tribes, and rural communities. It also threatens our public lands — paving the way for Republicans’ massive sell-off.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s budget will further tank the economy and throw working families under the bus. As New Mexico’s senators, we’ll fight back — to protect Medicaid and Social Security, defend every dollar we’ve secured for our communities, and keep putting New Mexico families first."

Among all of his proposed cuts, President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Preliminary Budget Request:

HEALTH:

Slashes funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by $33 billion (-26%).

• Slashes funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by $674 million. CMS helps ensure over 100 million Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health insurance by overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

• Cuts funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $18 billion or more than 40% — decimating funding for lifesaving medical treatments and cures.

• Decimates funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by cutting $3.6 billion — hollowing out the agency’s ability to save lives and protect Americans from health threats.

• Guts funding for substance use prevention and treatment and mental health services by $1 billion (roughly –15%) and eliminates the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — the agency with expertise in tackling the substance use and mental health crises.

• Eliminates the Title X program, which helps nearly 3 million patients get preventative care, birth control, cancer screenings, and more in every state.

EDUCATION:

Guts funding for the U.S. Department of Education by $12 billion (-15%).

• Eliminates all funding for Preschool Development Grants, which help states strengthen their early childhood education system and get parents the child care and pre-K they need.

• Eliminates and cuts dozens of elementary and secondary education programs (the vast majority of which are not specified), underscoring that President Trump’s vision for returning education to the states means state and local taxpayers will pay more to support students and educators at their local schools as a result of major cuts in federal funding.

• Eliminates several higher education programs, including TRIO, GEAR UP, Federal Work Study, Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS), and more, which help Americans pursue a postsecondary education and further their careers.

Slashes funding for the U.S. Department of Labor by $4.6 billion (-35%).

• Proposes to "Make America Skilled Again" by cutting workforce training programs that help Americans develop skills and secure good-paying jobs by roughly a third.

• Eliminates Job Corps and the Senior Community Service Employment Program.

Eliminates AmeriCorps, which enables over 200,000 Americans to help serve communities across the country, including by responding to natural disasters, supporting veterans, fighting the opioid epidemic, helping older Americans age with dignity, and working in our schools, educating and supporting students.

HOUSING:

Eviscerates the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with a 43.6% cut.

• Slashes HUD rental assistance programs by 42.8% while foisting responsibility over those programs onto state and local governments. Over 10 million Americans rely on HUD rental assistance, the vast majority of whom are seniors, people with disabilities, and children. This will rip the roofs off Americans’ heads and put even more families at risk of homelessness.

• Eliminates or cuts federal programs most targeted to build more affordable housing and address this country’s housing supply shortage, including in Tribal country.

• Eliminates the Community Development Block Grant that cities and towns across the country use to improve the quality of life for their citizens every day.

PUBLIC SAFETY:

Slashes the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) budget by at least $3.7 billion (-10%).

• Guts funding for grants to help keep communities safe by over $1 billion (-26%).

• Cuts funding for Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) salaries and expenses by $545 million (-5%), endangering Americans’ safety.

• Cuts funding for Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) salaries and expenses by $212 million (-7%), weakening the agency’s capacity to crack down on drug trafficking. Also proposes shuttering major DEA offices in countries around the world, noting that those countries “are equipped to counter drug trafficking on their own.”

• Cuts funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) salaries and expenses by $468 million (-29%) as part of the administration’s ongoing attempt to dismantle the agency in charge of enforcing our country’s gun laws.

Cuts $1.386 billion (-22%) from the U.S. Forest Service, gutting grant funding for state and Tribal wildfire risk reduction, volunteer fire departments, and much more. The proposal would cut at least 2,000 National Forest System staff positions, which will severely harm the administration’s stated goals of improving forest management.

Cuts funding for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement account by $1.3 billion (-91%) which helps prevent human trafficking, stop drug trafficking, and much more, with direct implications for American communities.

Proposes a reckless $209 million cut for NOAA’s weather satellites, which play a critical role in ensuring Americans have accurate weather forecasting and will result in a gap in observations when the current satellites retire early in the next decade.

NUTRITION:

Eliminates the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides food assistance to low-income individuals 60 years of age and older to supplement diets and addressing potential nutrient deficiencies. The preliminary budget request does not mention any of the other 16 Nutrition Programs, including WIC, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the National School Lunch Program.

PUBLIC LANDS:

Cuts $900 million (- 30%) from National Park Service operations, abandoning national parks the administration says should now be transferred to the states, while providing no funding for states to manage massive new obligations that such a dramatic move would entail. This would incentivize states to sell off public lands to the highest bidder, threatening valued open space and areas of natural and historical value to local communities.

AGRICULTURE:

Guts funding for agricultural research, which is critical to ensuring American agriculture is competitive with the rest of the world and provides key resources to help farmers and ranchers prepare and adapt in an uncertain environment. Zeroes out foreign food aid that supports American farmers and is a lifeline for people living in extreme poverty across the world.

TRIBES:

Slashes $911 million (-24%) for core Tribal programs that uphold the federal government’s legally-obligated and court-ordered trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal nations.

• Decimates core Tribal programs, including road maintenance, housing, and programs for children and families.

• Nearly eliminates funding for construction of Tribal schools, which are already too often dilapidated, and cuts Tribal law enforcement funding by 20%.

RURAL COMMUNITIES:

Slashes investments in core Rural Development programs by $721 million, including investments in safe drinking water, affordable housing, and resources to bolster the rural economy.

Cuts funding for the U.S. Department of Commerce by $1.9 billion (-18%). Outright eliminates the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), which helps economically distressed communities across America get ahead.

Eliminates all Community Services Block Grant funding ($770 million) for community-based anti-poverty programs that help individuals and families access services to alleviate the causes of poverty.

Eliminates funding to 27 states by zeroing out funding for 6 of 7 regional commissions, which provide grants in economically distressed communities for disaster mitigation, opioid crisis support programming, workforce training, and much more. This includes eliminating the Southwest Border Regional Commission (SBRC).

• The Southwest Border Regional Commission (SBRC) is one of eight authorized federal regional commissions and authorities, which are congressionally-chartered, federal-state partnerships created to promote economic development in their respective regions. Congress first authorized the establishment of the SBRC in 2008 to promote economic development in the southern border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Texas.

• Last year, Heinrich secured an expansion of the SBRC’s jurisdiction to include the following counties in New Mexico: Bernalillo, Cibola, Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Roosevelt, Torrance, Lea, and Valencia. These are in addition to Catron, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, Otero, Eddy, Doña Ana, and Chaves Counties in New Mexico, which are already included within the SBRC’s jurisdiction.

• In 2023, Heinrich led the introduction of the Southwest Border Regional Commission Reauthorization Act, legislation to reauthorize and fully fund the Southwest Border Regional Commission (SBRC). The bill was cosponsored by U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and former-U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.).

INFRASTRUCTURE:

Cuts funding for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation by $600 million (-34%), gutting investments in key restoration projects.

Cuts funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by $2 billion (-23%), slashing funding used to maintain our nation’s ports and harbors.

Cuts funding for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) non-disaster grants that help communities prepare for disasters, support efforts to prevent violence and terrorism, prepare emergency responders, and more.

Eliminates funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, ending support for more than 1,500 local public television and radio stations.

Eliminates funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the support provided to libraries and museums throughout the United States.

Cuts funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by more than half by abandoning state and Tribal programs that build and maintain drinking water and sewer systems, starving states of longstanding federal funding provided to pay for states’ work enforcing federal laws, and decimating funding for cleaning up toxic Superfund sites. The request would also effectively eliminate research funding used to better understand the impacts on human health from polluted air and water and from toxic chemicals. 

ENERGY:

Slashes funding for the Department of Energy overall by $4.7 billion (-9.4%).

• Guts funding for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs by $2.572 billion (-74%) and proposes to rescind $15.25 billion from Infrastructure Law energy programs, which will raise energy costs for American consumers by halting vital innovation and energy projects.

• Eliminates the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps 6 million American households heat and cool their homes.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

Slashes funding for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Entrepreneurial Development Programs by $167 million, proposing the elimination of nearly all programs, including programs that support veterans as they work to start and grow a small business.

Eliminates $291 million in funding for all current Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) financial assistance awards, which help leverage private capital to support the development of child care centers, housing, health care facilities, and small businesses. Since 2010, CDFIs have financed over 1.3 million businesses and 557,000 affordable homes.

Completely eliminates the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which provide funding for every state and every congressional district for cultural economic development and the creative economy.

Guts funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by $1.5 billion, which would eliminate all manner of programs that create good jobs, help local economies, and support ocean research, health, and coastal resilience.

More than halves funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a $5.2 billion (-57%) cut. Cuts funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science by $1.148 billion (-14%). Together, these proposed cuts would decimate America’s edge in essential scientific research that would otherwise drive future economic growth.

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE:

Guts funding for the U.S. Department of State and America’s international security, economic, and humanitarian assistance programs by $31.2 billion (-48%).

• Cuts funding for lifesaving and other humanitarian assistance by $4.7 billion (-54%), which will lead to preventable deaths and suffering across the globe, and threaten Americans’ safety and well-being by undercutting our efforts to stop disease outbreaks and prevent conflict. A cut of this magnitude will also lead to more migration of people fleeing poverty, conflict, and natural disasters.

• Slashes economic growth and development funding across multiple agencies and accounts by $6 billion (67%) and proposes the final dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

• Guts funding for global health initiatives by $6.2 billion (-62%).

• Reneges on our treaty dues for the United Nations (U.N.), U.N. Peacekeeping operations, and a majority of other international organizations.

SPACE EXPLORATION:

Cuts National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funding by $6 billion (-24%), the largest single-year cut to NASA in U.S. history, which would mark an incredible retreat for American leadership and ambition in space. Terminates the Artemis Campaign to establish a human presence on the Moon after the Artemis III mission. Slashes funding for the Science Mission Directorate by $3.43 billion (-47%), which would cancel numerous current and planned missions to better understand our universe, solar system, and Earth.