White House comes out with sharp spending cuts in Trump’s 2026 budget plan

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By LISA MASCARO and JOSH BOAK, AP Congressional Correspondents

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget plan would slash non-defense domestic spending by $163 billion while increasing expenditures on national security, according to statements released by the White House on Friday.

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The budget showed a desire to crack down on diversity programs and initiatives to address climate change. But the administration has yet to release detailed tables on what it wants income taxes, tariffs or the budget deficit to be — a sign of the political and financial challenge confronting Trump when he’s promising to cut taxes and repay the federal debt without doing major damage to economic growth.

Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the upcoming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trump’s return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican president’s second-term pursuits, alongside his party in Congress.

It also arrives as Trump has unilaterally imposed what could hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases in the form of tariffs, setting off a trade war that has consumers, CEOs and foreign leaders worried about a possible economic downturn.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, provided contours of a so-called skinny version of topline numbers, with more details to come.

“Details soon,” Vought said during a Cabinet meeting this week at the White House.

The nation’s estimated $7 trillion-plus federal budget has been growing steadily, with annual deficits fast approaching $2 trillion and the annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion. That’s thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code and climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, largely to cover the nation’s health needs as people age. The nation’s debt load, at $36 trillion, is ballooning.

This year’s presidential budget request is expected to reflect cuts already made by Trump’s actions and adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, including the slashing of the government workforce. It also could point to potential new revenue streams, possibly from Trump’s tariffs program.

Democrats are prepared to assail Trump’s budget as further evidence that the Republican administration is intent on gutting government programs that Americans depend on.

Congress is already deep into the slog of drafting of Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered funds for the administration’s mass deportation effort — a package that, unlike the budget plan, would carry the force of law.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spoke with Trump multiple times this week, is racing to have the president’s “big, beautiful bill” approved by the House by Memorial Day and sent on to the Senate.

“We had a very productive and encouraging meeting at the White House this morning, and the remaining pieces of ‘The One, Big Beautiful Bill!’ are coming together very well,” Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after Thursday’s meeting with Trump and various committee chairmen.

But deep differences remain among the Republicans, who are trying to pass that big bill over the objections of Democrats.

“We are awaiting some final calculations on a few of the tax components, and we expect to be able to complete that work on a very aggressive schedule,” Johnson said.

Meantime, Cabinet officials are expected to start trekking to Capitol Hill to testify about their various requests in the president’s budget.

It’s Congress, under its constitutional powers, that decides the spending plans, approves the bills that authorize federal programs and funds them through the appropriations process. Often, that system breaks down, forcing lawmakers to pass stopgap spending bills to keep the government funded and avoid federal shutdowns.

Vought is also expected on Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead as the Trump administration presses its case to Congress for funds.

Among the more skilled conservative budget hands in Washington, Vought has charted a career toward this moment. He served during the first Trump administration in the same role and, for Project 2025, wrote an extensive chapter about the remaking of the federal government.

Vought has separately been preparing a $9 billion package that would gut current 2025 funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which involves the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to cease funding for PBS and NPR.

Vought has said that package of so-called budget rescissions would be a first of potentially more, as the Trump administration tests the appetite in Congress for lawmakers to go on record and vote to roll back the money.

Americans see more overreach from the president than from judges, an AP-NORC poll finds

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By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump faces significant pushback from federal judges, a new poll shows U.S. adults are more likely to believe the president is the one overstepping his power rather than the courts — although Republicans largely think the opposite.

According to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about half of Americans say the president has “too much” power in the way government operates these days. On the other hand, Americans are more likely to believe the federal courts have an appropriate amount of authority. Only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults say that federal judges have “too much” power.

Republicans see it the other way: Roughly half say the federal judiciary has too much power, and only about 2 in 10 say the president does.

The survey comes as Trump has issued a record number of executive orders and pushed the boundaries of presidential power, wresting from Congress its constitutional authority to determine spending levels and defying court orders on immigration. The Republican president has directed the Department of Justice to go after his enemies, pressured law firms he sees as antagonistic and used the threat of federal prosecution to coerce officials and others to support his agenda.

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The courts have generally been the only branch of government to push back on Trump’s plans, while the GOP-controlled Congress has mostly deferred to him. Only about 3 in 10 Americans say Congress has too much power, and just 17% of Democrats say federal courts have excessive power. On the other hand, the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court fares better with Republicans — only about one-quarter think it has too much power, while one-third of Democrats believe that.

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump has “gone too far” in using presidential power to achieve his goals, the survey found, but concerns over his power are centered among Democrats and independents. Among Republicans, only about one-quarter say Trump has “gone too far,” while about 6 in 10 feel his use of power has been “about right.” About 14% of Republicans feel Trump hasn’t gone far enough.

“He’s been able to do unprecedented things,” said Brie Horshaw, a 35-year-old Los Angeles esthetician and Democrat. “He’s got too much power. It goes beyond what a president would normally do.”

Democrats are largely united in their sense that Trump has “gone too far” in using presidential power, with about 9 in 10 saying this. About 6 in 10 independents feel that way.

The AP-NORC poll is only the latest of several surveys showing that Trump’s actions have sparked widespread anxiety.

A Pew Research Center poll found that about half of U.S. adults say Trump is setting too much policy by executive order, while about 3 in 10 say he’s doing about the right amount. A CNN-SSRS poll found that 46% of Americans have “a lot” or “some” confidence in Trump’s ability to use the power of the presidency responsibly, which is down from 54% in December.

The findings indicate a rising sense of panic among Democrats as Trump takes aggressive actions to implement his agenda. According to the AP-NORC poll, the share of U.S. adults who say the president has too much power in the way the U.S. government operates has jumped significantly since last year, when Democrat Joe Biden was in his final year in office. It has risen from 32% in a March 2024 AP-NORC poll.

Democrats are almost 70 percentage points more likely to say the president has too much power than they were last year, while independents are about 20 percentage points more likely.

Republicans, meanwhile, are less likely to say the president has too much power than they were in March 2024, when 46% believed it, double the 23% who do now. Linda Seck, a retired nurse, said Trump has the same tools Biden had.

“They both had the same power. They might choose to use it differently,” said Seck, 76, a Republican who feels Trump has been using the right amount of power.

The Michigan resident, who once worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs, has cheered Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk cutting deeply into the federal workforce without waiting for Congress’ approval. Overall, Seck compared Trump’s behavior to driving on a two-lane road: “I don’t think he’s going over the yellow line, but he’s right there beside it.”

Seck says she’s a believer in the constitutional system of checks and balances and thinks Trump’s power is not unlimited.

“He can’t declare war without consulting Congress. He can’t bully the Federal Reserve,” Seck said.

Seck, however, joins fellow Republicans in fearing individual federal judges have too much power.

“I don’t think a district judge should be able to overrule the federal government,” she said. “That’s the job of the Supreme Court.”

Other polls show that Americans are broadly more concerned about presidential than judicial overreach. A Fox News poll, for example, found that about half of Americans are more concerned about the president ignoring rulings from the judicial branch, while about 3 in 10 say they’re more worried about the judicial branch going beyond its authority.

And few think the president has the power to override the courts. The Fox News poll found that about two-thirds of Americans say the president can’t ignore the Supreme Court if the president thinks the justices are overstepping their constitutional authority, while about 2 in 10 say the president can and another 16% are uncertain.

The Pew Research Center poll found that most Americans — including two-thirds of Republicans — think if a federal court rules that a Trump administration action is illegal, the Republican administration would need to follow the court’s ruling.

Lynn Cohee, a 48-year-old database administrator and Democrat who lives south of Austin, Texas, is distressed in what he sees as the other branches of government not adequately checking Trump’s actions.

“There’s decisions he’s making where other branches should step in and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t the wisest choice,’” Cohee said. “‘Let’s get rid of all these people’ — well, lets talk about it first. The mass deportations, the foreign policy, the whole idea we’re going to take over the Gaza Strip.”

Cohee said he doesn’t follow politics closely, but he’s worried that the intense partisanship stops one part of the government from checking the other.

“With our political parties, it doesn’t become what’s best, but it becomes like sports and I want to see my team win,” he said.

Riccardi reported from Denver.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,260 adults was conducted April 17-21, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Loons at Austin FC: Keys to match, projected XI and a prediction

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Minnesota United vs. Austin FC

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Q2 Stadium, Austin
Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Radio: KSTP-AM, 1500
Weather: 61 degrees, sunny, 5 mph east wind
Betting line: Austin plus-145; draw plus-230; MNUFC plus-175

Form: Minnesota (4-2-4, 16 points) lost 3-1 to first-place Vancouver on Sunday, meaning the two scoreless draws before the defeat put Loons’ winless run at three consecutive. The last three for Austin (5-1-4, 16 points) are: defeat to Vancouver (5-1), win over last-place L.A. Galaxy (2-1) and loss to Houston (2-0) on Saturday.

Recent matchups: Loons won 2-1 in Texas in the 2024 season opener; Austin then won 1-0 at Allianz Field in August. Austin is 5-0-4 in MLS vs. Minnesota.

Quote: “I don’t want to overreact and make a catastrophe out of one performance,” head coach Eric Ramsay said about the Whitecaps defeat. “We looked at that game as the end of a 10-game block and we sort of chunked the season up that way. Had someone said at the beginning that we would lose two of 10 games, we would have 16 points and we would have the basis of a really competitive team, I would be really happy with where we were.”

Update: New signing Julian Gressel is fit enough to be available in the game-day roster against Austin. Ramsay hasn’t said whether the projected right wing-back or right midfielder might start or come off the bench in Texas.

Absences: Hassani Dotson (knee), Owen Gene (ankle), Kipp Keller (hamstring) are out. Kelvin Yeboah (ankle) is questionable after subbing out against Vancouver.

Projected XI: In a 5-3-2 formation, FW Tani Oluwaseyi, FW Kelvin Yeboah; MF Joaquin Pereyra, MF Robin Lod, MF Wil Trapp; LWB Joseph Rosales, CB Nicholas Romero, CB Michael Boxall, CB Jefferson Diaz, RWB Bongi Hlongwane; GK Dayne St. Clair.

Expectation: Rosales plays against Austin after he denied saying a slur to Vancouver’s Emmanuel Sabbi last weekend. The Loons are letting the MLS investigation play out, but as they await a conclusion, the Honduran will remain a part of the lineup.

Scouting report: Austin spend huge sums of money to bring in three attackers — Brandon Vazquez, Myrto Uzuni and Osman Bukari. They have a combined four goals scored and a total of 9.3 expected goals, according to FBref.com. Loons defense was cut open a few times by Vancouver and this expensive trio has shown they can get in threatening spaces, if not convert enough times.

Stats: Austin is tied for second-fewest goals scored (seven) in MLS this season, but they have been stingy in goals conceded (10).

Another quote: “They have plenty for you to worry about,” Ramsay said of Verde. “As a consequence of Sunday, we have to look at ourselves and make sure we are a really good version of ourselves and we have a strong focus on what we can do.”

Prediction: It feels like the Loons are in a rut and Austin is a team capable of keeping them down. Austin win, 1-0.

Home ownership further out of reach as rising prices, high mortgage rates widen affordability gap

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By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home ownership is receding further out of reach for most Americans as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices stretch the limits of what buyers can afford.

A homebuyer now needs to earn at least $114,000 a year to afford a $431,250 home — the national median listing price in April, according to data released Thursday by Realtor.com

The analysis assumes that a homebuyer will make a 20% down payment, finance the rest of the purchase with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, and that the buyer’s housing costs won’t exceed 30% of their gross monthly income — an often-used barometer of housing affordability.

Based off the latest U.S. median home listing price, homebuyers need to earn $47,000 more a year to afford a home than they would have just six years ago. Back then, the median U.S. home listing price was $314,950, and the average rate on a 30-year mortgage hovered around 4.1%. This week, the rate averaged 6.76%.

FILE – A sign announcing a home for sale is posted outside a home, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, in Aceworth, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

The annual income required to afford a median-priced U.S. home first crossed into the six figures in May 2022 and hasn’t dropped below that level since. Median household income was about $80,600 annually in 2023, according to the U.S. Census bureau.

In several metro areas, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston, the annual income needed to afford a median-priced home tops $200,000. In San Jose, it’s more than $370,000.

Rock-bottom mortgage rates turbocharged the housing market during the pandemic, fueling bidding wars for homes that pushed up sale prices sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars above a seller initial asking price. U.S. home prices soared more than 50% between 2019 and 2024.

The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from their pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. In March, they posted their largest monthly drop since November 2022.

It’s not all bad news for prospective homebuyers.

Home prices are rising much more slowly than during the pandemic housing market frenzy. The national median sales price of a previously occupied U.S. home rose 2.7% in March from a year earlier to $403,700, an all-time high for March, but the smallest annual increase since August.

In April, the median price of a home listed for sale rose only 0.3% from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.

Buyers who can afford current mortgage rates have a wider selection of properties now than a year ago.

Active listings — a tally that encompasses all homes on the market except those pending a finalized sale — surged 30.6% last month from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com. Home listings jumped between 67.6% and 70.1% in San Diego, San Jose and Washington D.C.

As properties take longer to sell, more sellers are reducing their asking price. Some 18% of listings had their price reduced last month, according to Realtor.com.

“Sellers are becoming more flexible on pricing, underscored by the price reductions we’re seeing, and while higher mortgage rates are certainly weighing on demand, the silver lining is that the market is starting to rebalance,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “This could create opportunities for buyers who are prepared.”