How Would Your Agency Fare Under President Trump’s Fiscal 2021 Budget?

President Trump’s $4.8 trillion fiscal 2021 budget request released on Monday would cut spending at all but five of the Cabinet-level departments and major agencies Government Executive tracks, in keeping with the administration’s efforts to limit the federal bureaucracy. 

Similar to recent years, the Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments would see increases under the White House’s proposal. Defense spending would rise from $633.3 billion this year to $636.4 billion, an increase of 0.5%. VA would see the largest increase of the major agencies, rising 13.3% from $92.7 billion enacted in fiscal 2020 to $105 billion proposed for next year. 

NASA and the Treasury and Homeland Security departments would also experience growth under Trump’s budget request, with NASA receiving a boost of 11.9% from $22.6 billion to $25.2 billion. Treasury would increase 1.5% from $15.5 billion to $15.7 billion, and Homeland Security would increase 3.4%, from $48.1 billion to $49.7 billion. The DHS and Treasury figures were adjusted to account for the proposed transfer of the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department, the document stated. 

The budget comes in below the cap to which Congress and the White House agreed over the summer for non-defense agencies. Many domestic agencies would see double-digit percentage cuts under the president’s proposal. 

The Commerce Department would experience the most drastic decrease, at 37.3% from $12.9 billion to $8.1 billion. This is primarily due to the end of the 2020 census count, the budget document noted. The Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor and Transportation departments and the Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency and Small Business Administration would all see cuts of more than 10% under the proposal. 

The chart below shows the amounts the major agencies are slated to receive under Trump’s budget: