FBI director now says he supports Trump budget proposal

Ryan Tarinelli, CQ-Roll Call on May 8, 2025

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WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel changed his tune Thursday on a White House proposal to cut his agency’s budget, giving his “full support” to a request that, a day before, he said he was working to avoid because it would force him to fire 1,300 of his employees.

The controversial FBI director in his opening remarks before the Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee said he appeared there in “full support of the president’s budget.”

And Patel avoided criticizing the proposed $545 million in FBI cuts the White House outlined in its “skinny” budget request for fiscal 2026, an approximate 5 percent cut from current funding levels.

The Trump administration’s budget proposed $10.1 billion in FBI salaries and expenses funding, according to a written statement from Patel that was submitted before the hearing. Patel had told House lawmakers on Wednesday the agency needed more money than that, and that the agency had asked for $11.2 billion.

On Thursday, while being questioned about his House testimony, Patel told senators he was simply asking for more funds, because he can “do more with more money.”

Patel said the FBI will “agree with this budget as it stands and make it work for the operational necessity” of the agency, Patel said.

Senators from both parties raised concerns about the proposed $545 million cut, and throughout the hearing emphasized the stakes at play with the FBI’s budget.

The agency is at the nexus of critical law enforcement and national security functions, charged with combating transnational criminal organizations, fighting cybercrime and protecting the nation from terrorism, among other issues.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, told Patel his comments in the House were “revealing.”

“We rely on you and others to persuade the (Office of Management and Budget) and the president to submit a budget that meets the needs and requirements of the FBI. And clearly, at least based on your testimony in the House, you don’t think that that’s happened,” Van Hollen said.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who leads the subcommittee, asked if the $545 million cut would lead to real consequences for FBI capabilities, or if the reduction could be dealt with by finding “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“I think my job, senator, is to make sure we can find it, and we’ve identified a lot of it already, and we’ll continue to do it irrespective of where the budget lands,” Patel said.

Those remarks stood in stark contrast to Patel’s testimony a day before in the House, where Patel said he would be forced to remove 1,300 employees if Congress moves forward with the White House’s budget request.

“The skinny budget is a proposal, and I’m working through the appropriations process to explain why we need more than what has been proposed in that budget,” Patel said during the House hearing Wednesday.

At the Thursday hearing, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member of the full Appropriations Committee, said Patel’s House testimony signaled that he disagreed with what Trump was proposing.

But Patel, an ardent ally of Trump, quickly pushed back.

“No, I agree that we can sustain the mission with the proposed budget, and I agree with the budget,” Patel said. He told Murray that at the House hearing, he was communicating that he “can do more with more.”

“It’s different than what you told the House yesterday,” Murray said.

When Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., asked about the accuracy of the 1,300 figure on Thursday, Patel said “there’s a little more nuance to it than that” and went on to mention the so-caled “Fork in the Road” effort, which sought to slash federal employment through voluntary, deferred resignations.

Meanwhile, on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York used Patel’s testimony from the House to attack Trump’s budget proposal.

“If Kash Patel, one of Donald Trump’s most loyal acolytes, says this budget won’t work, who else is going to come out against it? How can we take this budget seriously?” Schumer said.

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