The Trump administration is moving ahead with a series of spending reductions that reach across education, health care and social-welfare programs, drawing a chorus of objections from members of Congress, state officials and public-interest groups. In education, the Department of Education has begun overhauling the Office of Federal Student Aid and has withheld or rescinded money for university programs. Lawmakers also cite the cancellation of a $2.75 billion digital-equity initiative—stripping $20 million from New Jersey alone—and the removal of unspecified “millions” from Florida’s public universities. At the same time, new federal guidance pressures campuses to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion offices. Health-care and anti-poverty programs are also in the cross-hairs. A sweeping budget measure dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” would bar Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood, even as administration officials pursue broader Medicaid cuts that critics say would raise costs for families financing nursing-home care. Separate proposals to pare back Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits have prompted warnings of higher childhood hunger and additional strain on low-income households. The research community is feeling the impact as well. The Department of Health and Human Services recently merged the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality into another office and eliminated more than one-third of the agency’s staff. The move has stalled grant processing and led to cancellations of projects such as a Harvard-led $3.8 million study on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—with $734,000 in funding left—and a separate $750,000 National Institutes of Health grant on sickle-cell disease. Scientists caution that scrapping studies aimed at preventing costly illnesses could ultimately raise, rather than lower, federal health spending.