Children’s Budget 2026

Just 8.43% of the federal budget goes toward children

The share of federal spending on children has declined precipitously over the last five years, according to a new report, dropping more than 30% since fiscal year 2022 to just 8.43% of all federal spending — a number that will dip even lower as program cuts passed last year take effect.

Programs that support the nation’s children receive just $8.43 for every $100 the federal government spends elsewhere, according to Children’s Budget 2026. The report, published today by the advocacy organization First Focus on Children, also finds that federal spending on children would drop to just 7.90% of the federal budget under President Trump’s proposed FY 2027 budget — the lowest level since the first Trump Administration.

“Year after year, our nation’s leaders continue to undermine the health and well-being of our children by failing to invest in the programs and supports that help them thrive,” First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley said. “By abandoning children in this way, lawmakers also endanger the economic and civic future of the country itself. Congress and the President must reverse this trend now. Today.”

First Focus on Children’s annual Children’s Budget analyzes the share of federal spending devoted to children across more than 250 government programs. Findings in Children’s Budget 2026 include:

• Support for children internationally, including efforts to combat childhood HIV, prevent tuberculosis and malaria, protect girls and boys from sex trafficking, and provide programmatic, financial and technical expertise to prevent childhood death and suffering worldwide, dropped from 0.09% of all federal spending to just 0.06% — or 6 cents for every $100. The President’s proposed FY 2027 budget would reduce the share of spending on children internationally to just 0.03% — or 3 cents for every $100 — of all federal spending.
• The nation’s disinvestment in children is accelerating. The share offederal investment in children has fallen nearly 30% since FY 2022, and the cuts passed in H.R. 1 — especially to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which account for roughly one-third of all investment in children — are expected to contribute to future declines in the children’s share of federal spending. H.R. 1 cuts roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid and $200 billion from SNAP over the next decade.
• The budget process is stacked against children. Most spending on older Americans — Social Security and Medicare — is mandatory, meaning it adjusts automatically as enrollment and costs rise, protected by law and insulated from the annual scramble of appropriations. More than half of all programs that serve children are discretionary, meaning Congress must review and reevaluate them every year making them more susceptible to budget cuts and limits.
• On the discretionary side of the budget, defense spending is increasingly crowding out spending on children: Children receive just 7.26% of all discretionary spending. Defense programs receive 52%.