The President’s Skinny Budget: More Chaos, Cuts, and Closures

Today, the White House released its “skinny” budget request for fiscal year 2026. The request proposes massive cuts to global health assistance and other international affairs programs. Specifically:  

• A $6.233 billion cut across global health programs, which, if enacted into law, would represent a 60 percent reduction from the current appropriated level.  

• Given the magnitude of the cut to global health overall, family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) will inevitably comprise a significant portion of the proposed cut 

•  A zeroing out of all funding is not out of the question. 

• This president has tried unsuccessfully to zero out family planning in budget requests before—notably in submitting his first budget request during his first term. 

• Still, this is a preliminary budget without a lot of detail, and the amount of the FP/RH request will not be confirmed until the full president’s budget request is submitted to Congress, perhaps later this month. 

During his first 100 days, Trump, Elon Musk, and their legions have slashed and burned the foreign aid architecture of the U.S. government that has been built over the last 60 years. So, it’s no surprise that this budget is full of mis- and dis-information about global health assistance and offers further evidence of their obsession with using U.S.-funding for international FP/RH as one of the “radical, leftist priorities” to politically bludgeon U.S. foreign assistance programs.   

Access to voluntary FP/RH services is essential to ending preventable maternal and child deaths, reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and combatting gender-based violence. Cutting off U.S. foreign assistance for family planning has already cost an estimated 12 million women and girls access to contraceptive care since late January, and is estimated to lead to 34,000 deaths in 2025 alone.  

Although the budget request purports to focus global health funding “on life-saving assistance and preventing infectious diseases from reaching the United States,” the evidence bears that FP/RH are life-saving, despite this administration deeming them otherwise. Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death for girls ages 15-19 globally, and pregnancy and childbirth remain risky endeavors in much of the world. In FY 2024, U.S. international FP/RH assistance (including a U.S. voluntary contribution to the UNFPA) resulted in several positive health outcomes, including:   

• Preventing 17.1 million unintended pregnancies and 5.2 million abortions.
• Enabling 47.6 million women and couples to receive contraceptive services.
• Preventing 34,000 maternal deaths.   

“It is unconscionable to propose slashing billions from global health and family planning programs that save lives and uphold the dignity of millions,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, President and CEO of PAI. This dangerous imbalance will cost countless women, children, and families their health—and, in many cases, their lives. For every $1 the U.S. invests in family planning, we see nearly $4 in returns through improved health outcomes, economic stability, and gender equity. Cutting these programs is not only morally indefensible—it’s fiscally reckless. Investing in global health reflects the values of compassion, equity, and leadership that America has long claimed to stand for. Turning our backs now will have deadly consequences and tarnish our global standing.”