[dragonwriter]

That's probably a part of it, but the budget cuts across the government (outside of defense and law enforcement) are also a realization of goal of at least the Bannon faction of the Trump White House to basically burn the whole system of government to the ground.

[lazugod]

If this is true, why are they not removing all funding entirely?

[dragonwriter]

Because its not (yet, at any rate) a dictatorship, and they need something that even Republicans in Congress will vote for, for one thing.

[squarefoot]

And probably also because by removing one hair at a time you can eventually make someone bald without he even noticing.