🗞️ The Numbers Behind the Noise: Trump’s Budget Reveals What—and Who—Gets Cut

It’s not reform. It’s sabotage.

May 31, 2025

For almost 30 years, I’ve helped veterans fight for what they’ve earned. I’ve read thousands of VA decisions. I’ve watched budget after budget chip away at the systems we rely on.

This one isn’t just a cut—it’s a shift in priorities. And not in our favor.

💥 The Cuts: Who Gets Hit

The Trump administration released the fine print on its 2025 budget this week. It outlines $163 billion in federal spending cuts—targeting programs that serve veterans, low-income families, students, and people with chronic illnesses.

Here’s what that looks like on the ground:

Housing: $33 billion cut from HUD. Less rental assistance. More families facing eviction.
Health and Human Services: Another $33 billion gone. That includes community clinics and disease prevention.
Education: $12 billion slashed. Pell Grant max drops by $1,645, hitting low-income students hard.
WIC (Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children): Monthly produce help drops from $54 to $13 for breastfeeding moms. For kids, from $27 to $10.
Cancer Research: Nearly 40% cut to the National Cancer Institute—part of an $18 billion rollback at NIH.

This isn’t belt-tightening. It’s gutting essential programs that help people survive.

🕳️ What’s Missing? The Defense Budget—and That’s No Accident

One big piece of the puzzle isn’t in this budget at all: the Pentagon’s numbers. The administration says we’ll see them in June.

Here’s what that delay probably means—and why it matters.

🎭 It’s About Optics

If the White House had released defense numbers alongside all these domestic cuts, the contrast would’ve been hard to miss:

Slashing cancer research, Pell Grants, and housing
While boosting the Pentagon’s already massive budget?

That would’ve made headlines—and not the kind they want. So they stagger the release. Lead with “savings,” delay the spending.

🪖 It’s Also About Politics

Defense spending is usually one of the few things both parties agree on. Delaying it gives Congress more time to digest the domestic cuts before getting into the weeds on weapons systems, bases, or contractor deals.

It also gives political cover to lawmakers who want to look “fiscally responsible” while quietly backing billions more for defense.

🧍‍♂️ And the Impact?

For the average American, especially veterans and low-income families, it means this:

You’re being told there’s “no money” for food assistance, housing, or medical research
But the largest slice of the discretionary budget—defense—is still TBD

That’s not budgeting. That’s bait and switch.

We’ve seen this play before. Delay the controversial stuff. Hope the public’s too worn down to notice when the rest quietly drops later.

But we’re watching.

💬 What Lawmakers Are Saying

“A draconian proposal… dead on arrival.”
—Sen. Patty Murray

I hope she’s right. But don’t get comfortable. Because these cuts have a way of creeping back in—piecemeal, buried in amendments, slipped into midnight votes.

This budget may not pass as-is. But that doesn’t mean the damage won’t happen.

🎯 Why Veterans Should Pay Attention

If you’ve ever had to prove you were sick enough, broke enough, or broken enough to get help—you already know what these cuts mean.

You’ve been told “not eligible” even when you needed it most. You’ve heard “we’re out of funding” when you reached for a lifeline.

This budget doubles down on that message. It tells veterans, students, working parents, and people with chronic conditions: you’re on your own.

🔊 This Fight Isn’t Quiet Anymore

I didn’t build HadIt.com Veterans and Tbird’s Quiet Fight to sit on the sidelines. I built them to speak truth—and help others speak it, too.

Here’s what you can do:

Share this post—so others see what’s happening beneath the headlines.
Call your reps. Tell them you’re watching.
Stay informed. I’ll keep tracking this and breaking it down here.

They’re counting on us being too tired to notice. But we’ve been tired before—and we’re still standing.

In the fight,

Tbird