Trump Budget Proposes First Sub-$1 Billion Smithsonian Funding Since 2020

The Smithsonian Institution's federal funding request for fiscal year 2027 sits at $961.3 million, according to a House subcommittee appropriations bill approved this June and reported by Hyperallergic. That's roughly 11% below the $1.08 billion allotted for fiscal 2026, and it's the first time the number has dropped below the $1 billion mark since fiscal year 2020.

It's a deliberate reversal of a decade-long trend. Fox News Digital's analysis of Smithsonian budget requests found the institution's asks climbed steadily under the Biden administration, from $960 million in fiscal 2019 to a record $1.24 billion in fiscal 2024. Voz.us reported similar figures, noting requests rose from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2021 to that same 2024 peak.

The proposed cut isn't happening in a vacuum. It follows what Voz.us described as an exhaustive, more-than-year-long audit process, one that included White House officials reviewing internal Smithsonian records, educational programs, exhibitions, and public statements, plus on-site inspections and curator interviews. That review produced a 162-page White House report, released in July 2026, accusing the Smithsonian of advancing DEI and ideological narratives at the expense of objective history.

What the review actually found

Fox News Digital has documented specific examples driving the administration's case. The Smithsonian's America 250 exhibit reportedly featured roughly three times as many items highlighting liberal figures and causes as conservative ones, according to Fox's own analysis. Fox is both the outlet doing the counting and the outlet reporting the story as fact.

Separately, the Smithsonian promoted a museum training guide that linked concepts like objectivity and merit to "white dominant culture." The institution apologized for that guide after public backlash, according to Fox News Digital.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III has also drawn scrutiny for saying DEI "must be at the center" of museum institutions, a comment made while he received more than $4.4 million in salary and benefits from 2020 through 2024, according to Fox News Digital.

A fair reading of the other side: museums exist to preserve and interpret history broadly, and mission statements emphasizing diversity or inclusion aren't automatically evidence of ideological capture. Curators and historians can reasonably argue that expanding whose stories get told is a legitimate scholarly goal, not activism. The Smithsonian has not issued a public comment responding to the White House report, according to Voz.us, so its own defense of these choices isn't part of the record yet.

The money mechanics

Of the proposed $961.3 million for fiscal 2027, $841.3 million would go to salaries and expenses, while facilities maintenance and capital projects would get $120 million, the same figure as the prior year, according to Hyperallergic. The budget also proposes cutting full-time Smithsonian staff by about 6%, from roughly 4,047 employees down to 3,804.

The Smithsonian isn't purely taxpayer-funded. It also draws on private donations, grants, and other revenue, as both Fox News Digital and Voz.us noted. But the federal contribution has run north of $1 billion a year for most of the past several years, funding an institution that oversees 21 museums, the National Zoo, and nearly 157 million objects and specimens, making it the largest museum, education, and research complex on Earth.

Not a done deal yet

These numbers are proposals, not appropriations. Mark B. Harkins, a congressional expert and senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University, told Hyperallergic the figures are "far from final at this stage." Congress writes the actual spending bills, and lawmakers can raise, lower, or restructure whatever the White House proposes.

Voz.us made the same point: it will be up to Congress to ratify or modify the funding levels the administration has put forward for the coming fiscal years. A House subcommittee has approved a version of the bill, but that's one step in a longer legislative process, not a final signed budget.

Beyond the top-line dollar figure, the administration has also pursued what Hyperallergic called "quieter" measures, additional strings and oversight mechanisms attached to how the Smithsonian can use whatever funding it does get. Trump has also ordered signage changes outside Smithsonian museums amid the broader dispute over how the institution presents American history.

The unresolved question is straightforward: does Congress hold the line at something close to $961 million, or do appropriators restore funding closer to the $1.08 billion fiscal 2026 level once the full legislative process plays out later this year. Nobody currently knows, and the Smithsonian's own public response to the underlying 162-page report still hasn't landed.