Patel Reconsiders Criticism of Trump Budget

UPDATE May 8, 2025 6:45 PM CDT

On second thought, President Trump's proposed budget for the FBI might not be so bad, Kash Patel suggested on Thursday. The FBI director had made clear to a House panel the day before that the proposal cutting agency funding was Trump's, not his. Patel addressed the issue in a more can-do tone when addressing a Senate panel, saying FBI staffers will "make the mission work on whatever budget we're given," the AP reports. Of his Wednesday testimony, he said, "I was simply asking for more funds because I can do more with more money." Also on Thursday, the acting head of FEMA was ousted after disagreeing with the president in Capitol Hill testimony.

May 7, 2025 7:25 PM CDT

FBI Director Kash Patel broke with the Trump administration Wednesday over its budget proposal that would dramatically slash funding for the bureau, telling confused lawmakers he doesn't agree with the cuts. "We need more than what has been proposed," Patel told a House Appropriations subcommittee, the AP reports. The 2026 proposal released on Friday calls for a funding cut of more than $500 million, part of what the White House said was a plan to "reform and streamline" the bureau and reduce "non-law enforcement missions that do not align" with the priorities of President Trump. Patel warned that such a cut would do harm as the FBI shifts priorities to focus on violent crime.

"That's the proposed budget, not by the FBI," Patel told the panel, per the Hill. "The proposed budget that I put forward is to cover us for $11.1 billion, which would not have us cut any positions." When asked which jobs would be cut under Trump's proposal, Patel said he hasn't looked into that. "We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut by coming in here and highlighting to you that we can't do the mission on those 2011 budget levels," he said. Lawmakers accustomed to hearing agencies defend their administration's requests were briefly stumped. Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro told Patel: "This is your budget. You have to have some idea of what you want to fund or not fund, or where you can cut or not cut, and provide that information" to the Office of Management and Budget. (More Kash Patel stories.)