The White House today announced the Office of Management and Budget’s transmittal of the President’s FY 2026 topline discretionary request to Congress, noting that it includes a $163 billion (23%) reduction in non-defense discretionary spending compared to the FY 2025 enacted level.
OMB Director Russ Vought said that the budget “ends the funding of our decline, puts American first, and delivers unprecedented support to our military and homeland security.”
Proposals of note include the following:
- Consolidation of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ecological Services’ and NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources’ joint administration of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act into a single program within the Interior Department, “consistent with the President’s efforts to improve performance and reduce the Federal bureaucracy, as well as his deregulatory agenda”
- Elimination of (or elimination of federal funding for) entities including the Marine Mammal Commission
- $80 million reduction in funding for the Interior Department’s Renewable Energy Programs to “eliminate support for Green New Deal technologies” including offshore wind leasing and permitting which it sats “harm coastal communities, wildlife, and military readiness”
- $1.311 billion reduction for NOAA’s Operations, Research, and Grants program, stating that its research, data, and grant programs “are not aligned with Administration policy-ending ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives that have “consistently funded efforts to radicalize students against markets and spread environmental harm” and supported organizations “that have pushed agendas harmful to America’s fishing industries.”