For the past half-century, presidents of both parties have, almost without exception, released a comprehensive federal budget proposal to Congress each year. The Trump administration is poised to break that tradition.
In May, months after a full proposal would be typically released, the administration offered what it called a “skinny budget”: an outline of spending priorities that detailed only a small fraction of proposed expenditures. But the administration has declined so far to release a full proposal.
Last month Russell Vought, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, assured a group of reporters that the administration was “certainly going to release a full budget eventually,” but he also seemed to indicate the opposite when he added that releasing one “wasn’t in our interest.” He claimed that the administration didn’t want to confuse the American people by releasing a full budget proposal during debate over the “big, beautiful bill,” Mr. Trump’s signature domestic legislation — even though the legislation had passed weeks earlier.
In addition to being an extraordinary departure from tradition, this budgetary secrecy is unlawful and a betrayal of the trust citizens place in their government. Taxpayers have a right to know how the government intends to spend their money.
The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which established the modern budget process, required the president to submit a comprehensive plan annually. And a law passed in 1974, in the wake of President Richard Nixon’s attempts to withhold funds appropriated by Congress, further increased congressional control over the budget process.
Mr. Trump’s administration submitted a comprehensive budget proposal every year of his first term. So why the secrecy now? Mr. Vought’s statement suggests an answer. If the administration’s fiscal agenda is as unpopular as its domestic policy law — with further tax cuts for the wealthy and deeper cuts to Medicaid and other popular programs — then hiding it may indeed serve the administration’s interest.
Last month, for example, Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, said that new savings accounts for newborns included in the domestic policy law could be “a backdoor for privatizing Social Security” — a claim at odds with Mr. Trump’s repeated promises to protect the program. Mr. Bessent quickly tried to backtrack, offering assurances that Social Security would not be replaced.
This mixed messaging underscores the need for a full budget proposal. If Mr. Trump plans to break his promise to protect Social Security — much as he did with Medicaid, which he slashed despite assurances that he wouldn’t — the American people deserve to know. Failing to release a comprehensive plan only fuels speculation and prevents a necessary policy debate.
The skinny budget released in May is deficient. It itemizes only annually appropriated funds — less than one-third of federal spending — and for just one year. This leaves out two-thirds of the budget, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, as well as deficit and debt projections. That’s a far cry from the traditional detailed multiyear blueprint covering all mandatory and discretionary spending, revenues, projected deficits and debt.
At the same time, Mr. Trump has been introducing major policy decisions at a breakneck pace, issuing executive orders concerning immigration, deportations, tariffs, agency staffing and more. Even policy experts are struggling to track and assess the cumulative effect of these actions.
A full budget proposal would help consolidate the administration’s policies into a single framework that would clarify their costs and fiscal implications. This would include whether and how the administration’s fiscal decisions align with its inflation projections and interest rate expectations. Without this information, the public cannot fully assess the administration’s economic stewardship.
Budget secrecy also weakens the Constitution’s vital system of checks and balances by limiting Congress’s ability to analyze and debate the president’s fiscal plans. Under previous administrations, Congress held annual public hearings on the multiyear budget plans, calling in administration officials to explain and defend the proposals as well as experts to offer analysis and commentary. The hearings were often broadcast on C-SPAN so that the public could watch. All this made Congress and the public better informed.
In addition, clandestine budgeting is anathema to investors and businesses, which rely on relatively predictable government tax and spending policy to make their plans and decisions.
Sadly, the administration’s secrecy here should surprise no one, given its record of budgetary transgressions: It has withheld congressionally approved funds, temporarily shut down a website that tracks federal spending, fired independent inspectors general responsible for stopping corruption and sharply criticized nonpartisan federal budget watchdog agencies like the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office.
The administration must stop hiding and start governing. It needs to release its full budget proposal now.
Thomas Kahn is the acting director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. He worked for two decades as the staff director of the House Budget Committee.
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