Trump’s Troop Deployment in D.C. Will Cost Another $1.4 Billion
Good Tuesday evening. The political world is watching Michigan tonight, where primary voters are choosing a Democratic Senate candidate to face Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in November - and will be delivering a closely watched message about the direction of the party, as it continues a major debate between progressive insurgents and establishment moderates. Here's what else is happening.
Trump's Troop Deployment in D.C. Will Cost Another $1.4 Billion: Reports
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., are now set to stay there through the end of President Trump's term, and the extension of their deployment from October 2026 through January 2029 will cost an additional $1.4 billion, according to reports citing information provided to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren by the Defense Department.
The administration has yet to disclose the total cost of the National Guard mission in Washington, but the latest estimate reportedly adds to the hundreds of millions of dollars spent to date for President Trump's unprecedented and widely criticized decision to have the U.S. military patrol the nation's capital. Experts have argued that Trump's use of troops in U.S. cities violates laws prohibiting the military from being used for domestic law enforcement.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in January that the National Guard deployment in Washington costs $607 a day per service member and that having those troops in the capital had cost $223 million through the end of 2025. The administration's other troop deployments in Los Angeles, Memphis, Portland and Chicago, plus a mobilization in Texas brought the total cost through the end of last year to about $496 million. CBO said at the time that every additional month of National Guard deployment in Washington would cost about $55 million, based on a peak of roughly 3,000 troops.
The newest cost figure for the nation's capital assumes that about 2,500 National Guard troops will be deployed, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the Pentagon's estimate. Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II, the interim commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, reportedly said at a Monday news briefing that about 4,600 service members are in the city now as part of a temporary summer increase to help handle July 4 celebrations.
"While American families are getting flattened by skyrocketing costs, Donald Trump is spending $1.4 billion to keep troops on the streets in Washington for years on end," Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a post on X. "The National Guard are not pawns, and taxpayer dollars are not a piggy bank for Trump's political stunts."
The surge of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. began in August 2025 after Trump declared a "crime emergency" causing "disgraceful conditions" in the District of Columbia. The deployment was scheduled to run through the end of this year after previous extensions. The Pentagon last month confirmed that the deployment was being extended again, this time by more than two years or until terminated by the president.
Trump has defended the troop deployment and his broader efforts to build and beautify around D.C. "The renaissance of Washington, D.C. in 15, 16 months is incredible. And it is. It's clean. It's safe. And you haven't seen anything yet," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.
He went on to praise the troops specifically.
"Our military has been unbelievable, and they work very well with the D.C. police," he said, later adding: "We took something that was in deep trouble. It was a graffiti-filled, crime-filled mess. We turned it into Shangri-La. We turned it into a great place."
Local officials have taken issue with such characterizations and with the duties given the troops, including snow removal and cleaning up garbage. Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II reportedly said at a Monday news briefing that troops had responded to about 800 medical emergencies and administered some 325 doses of Narcan, used to treat drug overdoses.
D.C. Metropolitan Police crime data shows a 3% increase in violent crime from 2025 to 2026, but a 23% drop in property crime and a 20% decrease in crime overall. Local officials also argue that crime rates were already dropping before the troop deployment.
"Taxpayers are paying more than a million dollars a day to have them walk around," Phil Mendelson, chairman of the District of Columbia Council, reportedly said in April, adding that "the presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look."
Quotes of the Day
"I'd like to thank Senator Cornyn and Senator Tillis ... for their very hard work related to today's nomination. Their concerns about the Anti-Weaponization Fund and the IRS settlement were shared by many, including this senator. I'm grateful that they, as well as Mr. Blanche and the White House, worked in good faith to solve them. Formally rescinding the Anti-Weaponization Fund and clarifying the scope of the release of claims has put this issue to bed once and for all."
- Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, speaking before the judiciary committee voted 12-10 along party lines to advance the nomination of President Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, to serve as attorney general.
Blanche's nomination had been held up by Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who sought reassurances that the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund that was created as part of the resolution of a lawsuit brought by President Trump against the IRS has been terminated, as well as clarification of an agreement overseen by Blanche that provides Trump with immunity from IRS investigations into his past tax filings. Blanche provided statements addressing those issues over the weekend, clearing the way for Cornyn and Tillis to support his nomination.
"We did the best we could, given the circumstances, to narrow" the IRS immunity agreement, Cornyn told reporters after the vote. Asked about Trump saying that he still likes the idea of a compensation fund for those who claim to have been abused by federal prosectors - including his supporters who were prosecuted for violent acts committed during the January 6, 2021, riots in Washington - Cornyn said, "Well, there's nothing we could do to rein in the president when he said he likes the fund and wishes it still exists, but the fact of the matter is it's dead, and that's all we could do under the circumstances."
"To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche's statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable. The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement and the cop-beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general."
- Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Democrats criticized the statements that Blanche provided on Sunday and slammed Republicans for supporting his nomination.
"Instead of seeing Todd Blanche's so-called deal for the sham that it is, Senate Republicans are once again taking Trump's personal attorney at his word," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "All Blanche's deal does is accept the reality that Trump's MAGA trust fund will never get through the courts. Blanche's so-called deal does nothing to stop the IRS sweetheart deal that lets Trump and his family cheat their way out of tens of millions of dollars in taxes."
Still, Blanche is expected to win confirmation in a partisan vote on the Senate floor, perhaps as soon as this week, although a handful of Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski, say they are still wrestling with their vote, and one, Sen. Susan Collins, said Tuesday that she will not support him.
"While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political," Collins said in a statement. "Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department's independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation."
Among the specific reasons for her decision, Collins cited Blanche's approval of the anti-weaponization fund and the immunity deal for Trump; his attempts to indict Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin; and an expression of opposition to his nomination by 1,200 former employees of the Justice Department.
Fiscal News Roundup
- Todd Blanche Is 1 Vote Away From Confirmation – Politico
- Collins Will Oppose Blanche, Narrowing Nominee's Path to Confirmation – The Hill
- Iran and Oman Make Progress on a Deal to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Officials Say – Associated Press
- An Angry Trump Struggles to Understand Iran's Defiant Leaders – New York Times
- Trump Is Making a Rare Western Trip to Talk About the Economy, Something Polls Show He's Weak On – Associated Press
- Divided Federal Appeals Court Says Trump Administration Was Wrong to Terminate Climate Funds – Associated Press
- Appeals Court Says E.P.A. Cannot Block Billions in Climate Grants – New York Times
- Guard Deployment to Washington Into 2029 Will Cost Roughly $1.4B, Estimate Shows – Associated Press
- Ron Johnson's Handling of Budget Hearing Rankles Dems – Politico
- Trump Orders Changes to New Helipad After Weeks of Around-the-Clock Work – Washington Post
- Trump's Arch Could Harm the Integrity of Many of Washington's Historical Sites, Report Says – Associated Press
- How Wealth Tax Backers Won Over California Democrats – Politico
- Thousands Seek NYC Pied-a-Terre Tax Relief, City Hall Says – Bloomberg
Views and Analysis
- Trump Keeps Making Threats. The World Has Stopped Flinching – Steve Hendrix and Anthony Faiola, Washington Post
- Oil Companies Are Profiting From the US-Iran War. That's a Political Headache for Trump – Anna Cooban, CNN
- Republican Senators Pretend to Constrain Trump – Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
- It's the Worst Time to Be John Thune – David M. Drucker, Bloomberg
- Trump Overhaul Could Gut Head Start Preschool Standards, Leaving States to Set the Rules – Moriah Balingit, Associated Press
- How Predatory Trade Schools Drained $300 Million From the GI Bill and Cheated Veterans – Craig Whitlock and Andrew Ba Tran, Washington Post
- The Michigan Revolution Is About Old-Fashioned Politics – David Dayen, American Prospect
- Economics Drive Populism and Socialism – William A. Galston, Wall Street Journal
- Rove: Republicans Making Same Mistake That Hurt Democrats in 2024 – Finya Swai, The Hill
- Make Congress Great Again – Matt Ford, New Republic
- Yen Intervention Is Bessent's Latest Band-Aid Fix for Bonds – Jonathan Levin, Bloomberg
- One Year Later, Some of Trump's Trade Deals Are Real. Others, Not So Much – Layla A. Jones, Talking Points Memo
- A Cornered Trump Just Might Turn on Big Oil – Liam Denning, Bloomberg
- How Trump's Claims of Vandalism at the Renovated Reflecting Pool Crumbled – Dan Diamond et al., Washington Post
- Warsh Wanted 'Regime Change.' A Reset Might Need to Come First – Colby Smith, New York Times
- Canada and the US Go Toe-to-Toe – Jessica Karl, Bloomberg