'Pay for Trump's golf trips': Observers call out 'Orwellian language' in Republican budget

President Donald Trump released his 2026 budget proposal on Friday in a document that says he's cut $163 billion from federal spending so far.

Fox News reporter Edward Lawrence said that this was a "skinny" topline budget request, but it "does not include Medicare and Medicaid spending. Represents an increase of 13.4%, for the military," Lawrence said, according to his colleague Chad Pergram. "That breaks down to $892.6 billion in discretionary defense spending and $119.3 billion in mandatory defense spending. OMB says all departments should expect cuts except the VA and Transportation. The budget request also protects space programs."

Pergram also cited Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) comment "Trump's days of pretending to be a populist are over. His policies are nothing short of an all-out assault on hardworking Americans. As he guts healthcare, slashes education, and hollows out programs families rely on— he’s bankrolling tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations. It’s not just fiscally irresponsible, it’s a betrayal of working people from a morally bankrupt president. Democrats are going to fight this heartless budget with everything we’ve got and if Congressional Republicans actually cared about American families, they’d join us."

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Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman pointed out, "Trump FY2026 budget seeks to end LIHEAP, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. There are going to be a lot of northeastern Republicans who do not like this."

"The GOP budget has $0 for FEMA’s emergency management funding, yet provides $300M to pay for Trump’s golf trips," complained Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.). "Extreme weather doesn’t discriminate between red and blue districts. The GOP is choosing Trump’s golf over the safety and security of their constituents."

Senior director of Federal Budget Policy for the Center for American Progress, Bobby Kogan, pointed to cuts to the "clean drinking water state revolving loan funds." He remarked, "The Trump budget calls to destroy our safe drinking water grants." He included several clown emojis.

He also saw, that Trump's budget "calls for enormous cuts to education funding. 'Preserve' is some Orwellian language for 4.5 billion in cuts."

Another cut is to "entirely eliminate preschool development grants. They don't want the 'wrong' people getting preschool," criticized Kogan.

Max Kozlov, science reporter covering biomedical research at Nature, remarked that the cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH) "by 40% have come true." He cited the Friday budget, which calls to "Cut $18 BILLION to NIH's $47 billion budget. Eliminate NIMHD, NCCIH, FIC. Collapse ICs into five 'focus areas'."

The NMIDH stands for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. NCCIH is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. The FIC is the Fogarty International Center, which "is dedicated to advancing the mission of NIH by supporting and facilitating global health research conducted by U.S. and international investigators, building partnerships between health research institutions in the U.S. and abroad, and training the next generation of scientists to address global health needs," its website says.

"Trump's budget calls for a 22% cut that would hit the CDC, NIH, FEMA, EPA loan programs aimed at protecting drinking water, and much more. All to finance giant tax cuts for the rich. Oh and Trump is proposing a record $1 trillion military budget," said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. He closed by reminding followers of the often used GOP phrase "Fiscal responsibility."

Read the full budget here.