The White House will propose a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2027, which would increase military spending to its highest level in modern history.

The budget proposal would amount to a 42% increase in military spending and a 10% decrease in nondefense spending, CBS News stated.

CBS News explained further:

The White House released the 92-page budget request on Friday, accompanied by several summaries of the administration’s key priorities across the executive branch.

The proposed increase for the military comes as the U.S. is spending billions of dollars for the war in Iran, and the White House is preparing to ask Congress for a supplemental spending package to cover the cost of the conflict. The president’s 2027 budget serves as the starting point for negotiations with Congress over annual spending bills that lawmakers aim to finalize later in the year. The spending levels that Congress ultimately sets can substantially differ from the president’s proposal.

“This amount exceeds even the [Ronald] Reagan buildup by approaching the historic increases just prior to World War II, a level that recognizes the current global threat environment and restores the readiness and lethality of our forces,” a White House summary of the military portion of the budget proposal states. The increase in defense spending would cover a 5 to 7% pay raise for troops, provide $65.8 billion for new ships and resupply critical munition stocks, which have been depleted in the war with Iran. It also supports the building of a “Golden Dome,” a space-based system of missile defense sensors and interceptors.

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“The Budget for the Department of War (DOW) advances President Trump’s delivery of peace through strength by reinvesting in the foundations of American military power – from defense industrial capacity to the readiness and health of the force – and ensuring the United States maintains the world’s most powerful and capable military. American has already begun to strengthen and reinvigorate the military by committing tens of billions of dollars to new and innovative programs such as the Golden Dome for America, and making critical investments in the defense industrial base,” the Department of War section of the budget proposal read.

“By continuing to provide the resources necessary to rebuild America’s military, the Budget re-establishes deterrence, revives the warrior ethos of America’s Armed Forces, and prioritizes investments against the most acute national security threats. The Budget restores the readiness and lethality of the force by ensuring America’s warfighters are trained, equipped, and medically ready to fight and win,” it continued.

“Because of all the stuff we’ve done like cutting government employment, that we’re being very fiscally responsible, but we also have an increasing eye on the importance of national defense and the potential budgetary costs of that,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said.

“It’s fiscally responsible,” he continued.

“Increasing spending on defense because of all the things we’re seeing in the world,” he added.

Watch below:

POLITICO has more:

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are starting to embrace the concept of sidelining Democrats to boost Pentagon dollars and immigration enforcement accounts currently unfunded amid the broader Department of Homeland Security shutdown. But Trump will struggle to build enough political will on his own side of the aisle to fulfill his defense goals through a party-line maneuver as fiscal conservatives demand commensurate spending cuts after grudgingly backing the multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package Republicans enacted last summer.

The administration’s whopping military spending request comes as Trump argues that the U.S. is on the verge of achieving its aims in the monthlong war against Iran, though the blueprint released Friday appears to be separate from an expected supplemental funding request to finance the Middle East campaign.

While the administration is expecting lawmakers to approve a base defense budget of $1.15 trillion through the annual appropriations process — the first time the base budget would exceed $1 trillion — relying on reconciliation for $350 billion is a risky tactic. GOP majorities are narrow, and supersizing defense spending while slashing domestic funding could cost Republicans in the coming midterms, particularly if voters blame the party for continued military and economic consequences of the Iran war.

The White House labeled the budget “historic” for its investment in military hard power — name checking priority investments such as Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense shield and a planned Trump-class battleship as part of the Navy’s “Golden Fleet.”

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Read the full budget proposal HERE.

 

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