President Trump wants to increase defense spending by hundreds of billions of dollars in fiscal year 2027, for a total of $1.5 trillion, according to his budget request released Friday. At the same time, Trump is proposing to cut non-defense spending by about 10%, with major reductions in funding for education, science and the environment.
In an overview, the White House said the requested defense spending, which would represent a major jump from the current $1 trillion level, “exceeds even the Reagan buildup by approaching the historic increases just prior to World War II.” The White House also said it intends to pass the huge increase in defense spending via the reconciliation process, which would allow Republicans to pass a spending bill without Democratic support.
“For decades in Washington, Democrats have demanded and received corresponding increases in wasteful and harmful programs for every increase in the Defense Budget,” the overview says. “This Administration has successfully shifted that paradigm by including a much-needed increase to defense spending in a reconciliation bill passed with only Republican votes – avoiding the traditional spending ratchet. This strategy of decoupling funding for Republican priorities from Democrat waste and use of executive fiscal tools has proven to be a success, and we continue to deploy it in this year’s Budget.”
Some notable details: The request would cover a pay raise for troops of 5% to 7%, depending on rank; $65.8 billion to build 34 new ships, an effort that includes the creation of “President Trump’s Golden Fleet” featuring a “Trump-class battleship”; funding to “rapidly procure twelve critical munitions and invest in our long-neglected defense industrial base”; funding for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system; investments in “critical minerals and domestic supply chains”; and a continued emphasis on the elimination of “woke” programs.
On the non-defense side, the request calls for $73 billion in spending reductions. “Savings are achieved by reducing or eliminating woke, weaponized, and wasteful programs, and by returning state and local responsibilities to their respective governments,” the White House overview says.
Cuts include $8.5 billion from K-12 education programs; $2.7 billion from higher education programs; $4.6 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency; $1.3 billion from FEMA community disaster preparedness grants; $5 billion from public health programs, mental health services, and disease prevention; $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health; $1.1 billion from “climate change and Green New Scam” research; $775 million from the Community Services Block Grant program; $768 million from the refugee resettlement program; and $52 million from the Transportation Security Administration as part of a privatization effort.
Some non-defense areas would see increases in spending. Customs and Border Protection would receive $18.5 billion; Immigration and Customs Enforcement would receive $10 billion; the Coast Guard would receive $12.5 billion; and the U.S. Secret Service would receive $3.5 billion. The administration also seeks $481 million to hire more air traffic controllers and improve aviation safety, and $605 million for National Guard mobilizations in Washington, D.C.
Rounding up reactions: Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson praised the proposal, saying it would “restore fiscal sanity, reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in Washington.” Sen. Mitch McConnell, who oversees the defense appropriations subcommittee, said he was happy to see “significant growth in annual appropriations for the U.S. armed forces.”
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered a very different take. “Donald Trump’s budget is rotten to the core, and Democrats will make sure it never passes,” he said in a statement.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, rejected the White House request and said he looked forward to questioning Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought in a hearing on April 15.
“Donald Trump is telling the American people our country somehow can’t afford child care, Medicaid, and Medicare, but is never too stretched to fund wars of choice,” Boyle said in a statement. “He is wrong. We are the wealthiest country in the world and can absolutely afford to both defend and invest in the American people.”
Jessica Riedl, a budget expert at the Brookings Institution, questioned whether the military would even be able to spend all of the extra money, should Congress provide it. “Ramping up defense spending takes time and the proper policy infrastructure,” she said on social media. “This is not a serious proposal.”
Reidl also noted that the budget request failed to define many important details. “The Trump admin's refusal to release a complete budget - that covers all spending and taxes - is a complete abdication of even minimum standards of fiscal stewardship,” she wrote. “There is no real attempt to offer any vision of federal taxes, spending, and deficits.”
The bottom line: A White House budget request tells us a lot about a president’s interests and values, but it rarely defines the details of the ultimate, real-world budget. Still, Trump’s request indicates that Republicans will continue to push hard on an agenda that includes more spending on the military, less spending in non-defense areas, and a continued “war on woke” throughout the federal government.