What Trump’s 2026 Budget Would Mean For Older Adults

President Trump’s 2026 budget would freeze spending for many services for older adults, deeply cut others, continue his efforts to slash government staffing for key programs, and abolish a critical federal office that manages many of those initiatives.

It would retain, but sharply reduce funding for, the National Institute on Aging. It would restructure and cut funding for low-income housing, including for older adults and people with disabilities. And it would kill a jobs program for low-income older adults and several initiatives aimed at assisting people with disabilities.

Trump’s draft 2026 budget is separate from the many staffing cuts he already made through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. And it is unrelated to the 2025 budget bill passed by the House May 22 and now pending in the Senate.

His 2026 budget will need to be approved by Congress, where its fate is uncertain. Lawmakers will consider it sometime after they complete the 2025 fiscal bill, which the House calls the One Big Beautfiul Bill Act (OBBBA).

Flat-Funding Programs For Seniors

According to a budget description released by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Trump would fund most programs under the umbrella Older Americans Act in 2026 at roughly the same levels as this year.

That means programs such as Meals on Wheels and other nutrition assistance, support for family caregivers, the long-term care ombudsman program, and the like would get no additional funding, but neither would they see their budgets cut.

In a time of inflation, flat funding means the buying power of these programs would shrink. Yet, Older Americans Acy programs fared far better than other domestic spending, which Trump would cut by about 22 percent.

Killing ACL

The biggest immediate change, which the White House announced earlier this year, would abolish the Administration for Community Living, which oversees those OAA programs as well as a federal initiative aimed at supporting family caregivers called the RAISE Act.

HHS initially announced it would divide ACL’s work among three other agencies within the department. Now, Trump would shift all of ACLs work to an office that had been known as the Administration for Children and Families. It will become the Administration for Children, Families, and Community.

HHS leadership also announced earlier this year it would eliminate about 45 percent of all positions in ACL, which had about 200 staff at the beginning of 2025. It is not clear from the budget how that number will change.

After receiving pushback from key members of Congress and advocacy groups, the final Trump budget reverses several program cuts the White House proposed back in March. For example, it now saves and funds at current levels the ombudsman program that investigates consumer complaints about nursing homes, a respite program for family caregivers, and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, which provides consumer advice about Medicare.

Some programs still would be killed, however. They include several for people with disabilities and the White House conference on aging.

Cutting Senior Housing And NIA

The Administration also would cut federal rental assistance by almost $27 billion, or 43 percent. It would combine six different programs into a single State Rental Assistance Block Grant, funded at about $32 billion. The combined programs would include Section 202 Housing for the Elderly and Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities.

Absent those subsidies, it would be difficult if not impossible to build affordable housing for low-income older adults. The new model would give states greater flexibility in spending the funds. But it also would create something of a zero-sum game, where housing needs of older adults could be pitted against the needs of young families.

Trump also would kill a long-standing Department of Labor program aimed at helping low-income older adults find work.

Over the long term, the most profound cut proposed by Trump may be slashing the National Institute on Aging budget from $4.4 billion to $2.8 billion. NIA funds a broad range of critical research into ways to improve the health of older adults. NIA would remain an independent entity at the National Institutes of Health, unlike several others Trump would eliminate. But losing nearly 40 percent of its funding would be a severe blow to the current and future study of aging.

These budget proposals are separate from House plans to substantially cut the federal contribution to Medicaid or impose a work requirement on Medicaid recipients.

What Happens Next?

Trump’s budget proposal now goes to Congress, where its fate is uncertain.

On one hand, many programs for older adults and people with disabilities enjoy widespread support on Capitol Hill. But bond investors are getting increasingly nervous about the rapidly rising federal budget deficit, a concern that is likely to grow if Congress approves anything close to the $3.9 trillion in tax cuts the House adopted in May.

The Senate is considering even bigger tax cuts. But bond market resistance could force Congress to either scale back those plans, which would be a tough sell among GOP lawmakers, or look for ways to pay for some tax reductions by cutting domestic spending even more deeply.

If lawmakers go that route, Older Americans Act funding still could face a struggle on Capitol Hill. It seems improbable that the Trump Administration will fight hard to retain many of these programs, since it proposed cutting them in its initial budget draft.

The Trump budget could have been much worse for older adults. But it remains to be seen how those programs are managed following the major staffing cuts at HHS. And don’t be surprised if services for seniors and people with disabilities get caught up in congressional efforts to further cut domestic spending later this year.