White House seeks massive increase in defense spending with $1.5 trillion ask in new budget request [View all]

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/03/politics/white-house-budget-proposal-defense-spending-trump

White House seeks massive increase in defense spending with $1.5 trillion ask in new budget request

The White House is seeking roughly $1.5 trillion for defense as part of a fiscal 2027 budget request – a proposal that would boost military spending to its highest point in modern history as the Trump administration wages its war with Iran.

The blueprint released Friday would increase the government’s defense spending by more than 40% compared to last year, bolstering its ability to purchase more munitions and build out the US naval fleet while also beginning construction on President Donald Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system.

Of the $445 billion that the administration wants to add to the defense budget, the White House is proposing that $350 billion of it be passed as part of forthcoming legislation that Republicans are planning to pass using a maneuver that requires only a majority vote in the Senate.

The historic defense spending levels come with the US in the midst of an ongoing war with Iran and other simmering conflicts around the world. And it signals little interest within the White House to shift its attention and resources elsewhere, despite Trump’s repeated assurance that he plans to wind down the fighting in the Middle East within weeks.

The budget proposal, by contrast, seeks to slash nondefense spending by 10% — a $73 billion cut that would fall primarily on housing, social services, health care and other domestic programs that the administration has derided as “woke.”

...




https://www.npr.org/2026/04/03/nx-s1-5772701/trump-budget-defense-spending

Trump calls for a major increase in defense spending alongside cuts in domestic spending
April 3, 2026 9:08 AM ET
By The Associated Press

President Trump is asking Congress to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion, the largest such request in decades and the latest signal of the president's emphasis on U.S. military investments over domestic programs.

The 2027 plans for the Pentagon were confirmed in a White House outline of Trump's 2027 budget proposal released Friday. The White House summary says Trump's proposal would reduce nondefense spending by 10% by shifting some responsibilities to state and local governments.

Even before the U.S.-led war against Iran, the Republican president had indicated he wanted to bolster defense spending to modernize the military for 21st-century threats. Separately, the Pentagon last month proposed $200 billion for the war effort and to backfill munitions and supplies.

Trump, speaking ahead of an address to the nation this week about the Iran war, signaled the military is his priority, setting up a clash ahead in Congress.

"We're fighting wars. We can't take care of day care," Trump said at a private White House event Wednesday.

"It's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things," he said. "They can do it on a state basis. You can't do it on a federal."

...