On April 3, 2026, President Trump submitted his annual budget proposal to Congress. This request included a $1.5 trillion military budget, a 44% increase justified in large part due to the increasingly unpopular war in Iran. While proposing a 10% reduction in nondefense spending, the budget would increase military spending by $441 billion. Those increases come at the expense of domestic programs, including child care, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Medicare and health spending programs have already faced threats of significant funding reductions before the release of Trump’s latest budget proposal. In 2025, health spending accounted for roughly $3 trillion, nearly one-third of federal spending. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law last year and scheduled to take effect in January 2027, cuts approximately $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over the next ten years, and will make an estimated 10 million people uninsured. Medicaid is the government program providing health insurance to low-income Americans.
The President has defended reductions in domestic spending by arguing that programs such as child care, Medicaid, and Medicare should be handled by states rather than the federal government. However, states are not positioned to absorb these costs. Federal cuts to state programs limit states’ abilities to meet growing health care needs and rising costs. As a result, millions of Americans could face reduced access to care.
It is difficult not to consider the sacrifice of domestic insurance programs as part of the broader attack on women’s health. Women make up 55% of both Medicare and Medicaid enrollees and are more likely than men to rely on public health insurance programs. These higher enrollment rates correspond with their greater dependency on these programs: women are more likely to be low-income, live longer, and have more health care needs compared to men.
The consequences extend beyond health care. Federal cuts to child care spending disproportionately impact women as they are more likely to work low-wage jobs, take on unpaid caregiving responsibilities, and support households as single parents. These impacts are felt even harder by women of color, where community mothering extends into the unrecognized third shift.
As military spending continues to rise, women and gender nonconforming people are increasingly expected to absorb the social and economic costs of shrinking public support systems. Those in positions of power who fail to challenge these priorities should not expect their decisions to be free of long-term consequences.