WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump unveiled a proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2027 at a White House Easter lunch reception, calling for $1.5 trillion in defense spending and a 10% cut to non-defense programs. The proposal would increase the defense budget by 42% over the fiscal year 2026 level while reducing the Department of Health and Human Services budget by 12%, or more than $15 billion below its current-year level.

"We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country," Trump said at the reception. The proposed $1.5 trillion defense allocation is approximately three times Iran's entire GDP.

Trump also addressed domestic spending programs during his remarks. "It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things, they can do it on a state basis. All these little scams you have to let states take care of them," he said.

The White House posted a video of the president's Easter remarks on its YouTube page, then deleted it. The budget proposal includes a $5 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health budget. According to a White House statement, the reduction was based on what the administration described as wasteful spending, misleading information, risky research, and the promotion of ideologies that undermine public health.

The proposal also cuts $4 billion from a program that ensures low-income households' access to electricity, with the White House citing fraud among recipients.

The budget follows legislation passed last year, referred to as the "big, beautiful bill," which cut more than $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. That bill also included $165 billion for the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement operations. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the legislation proposed a $4.5 trillion tax cut over 10 years that would increase the after-tax income of the richest 10% of households by 2.7%, or $13,622 per household.

Deaths due to avoidable causes occur at a higher rate in the United States than in most other industrialized countries. The rate of death from treatable conditions in the U.S. is nearly twice that in Spain, France, Japan, and Australia. Among those peer nations, the U.S. also has the highest share of adults who report skipping doctor appointments due to cost, skipping medical tests, and skimping on prescription drugs, and Americans face the highest out-of-pocket expenses for medical services among peer industrialized countries.

Government spending on early childhood education and care in the U.S. is among the lowest among affluent nations, and the country has one of the lowest female labor force participation rates among industrialized countries.