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President Donald Trump has proposed boosting defense spending to $1.5 trillion in his 2027 budget, released Friday, in a move he framed as prioritizing U.S. military investments over domestic programs. The proposal pairs that increase with cuts to non-defense spending, setting up potential fights with congressional leaders as lawmakers begin building their own budget plans and annual appropriations legislation.
Budget Director Russell Vought said the administration is looking to reinvest in “America’s national security infrastructure,” a statement made in the context of the budget release. Vought’s written message came as the White House presented the annual budget as a road map from the president to Congress rather than a document with the force of law. Under the budget process, Congress can reject the request and often does, using it as guidance while it crafts the spending levels through its own negotiations.
Trump’s proposed defense increase would make the Pentagon request, in the administration’s terms, the largest such request in decades. The White House also signaled that the shift was not accidental, saying the sizable increase—about 44% for the Pentagon—had been telegraphed even before the U.S.-led war against Iran. Trump has also linked the proposal to his broader emphasis on the war effort, speaking ahead of an address this week about the Iran war and telling a private event audience, “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care.”
In remarks at that same private event, Trump also said, “It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things,” adding, “They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal.” The budget document and the remarks set up a political contrast that advisers and opposition figures alike expect to play out in Congress as Democrats and Republicans argue over which spending cuts are justified and which programs should be protected.
The White House laid out immigration and enforcement items as part of its priorities. Among them, it described eliminating aspects of a refugee resettlement aid program and maintaining Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds at current-year levels, while drawing on previous increases for the Department of Homeland Security to continue opening detention facilities. The document also called for 100,000 beds for adults and 30,000 for families.
The proposal also includes a $481 million increase aimed at aviation safety and air traffic controller hiring, along with a 13% increase in funding for the Department of Justice tied to a focus on violent criminals, according to the White House framing of “migrant crime.” The budget also points to a $10 billion fund within the National Park Service for “construction and beautification” projects in Washington, D.C., as part of its separate line items.
On the non-defense side, the administration sought significant reductions across multiple domestic areas. The budget would cancel more than $15 billion from the Biden-era bipartisan infrastructure law, including money for renewable energy projects and NOAA grants, according to the White House. It also includes a 19% cut in the Department of Agriculture and an ending of certain university grants, a 13% cut for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and about a 12% decrease for the Health and Human Services department, including cuts to a low-income heating assistance program.
Administration language used in the document has drawn attention for its criticism of federal spending that it says supports “woke programs.” The budget used the word “woke” 34 times, including in its discussion of Community Services Block Grants, which the administration said would be targeted because it claimed some of the grants had been “hijacked by radicals” to promote equity-building and green energy initiatives. The document also sought to cut $106 million in funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which the White House said has “pushed radical gender ideology onto children.”
House and Senate Republican defense leaders applauded the request. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said the country faces a particularly dangerous global environment, with Wicker and Rogers attributing the need to keep the military advanced to threats including China, Russia and Iran. By contrast, top Democrats criticized the budget as favoring the military while trimming programs they say help people manage day-to-day costs such as health care and housing.
Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the plan represents “America Last.” On the Senate side, Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the budget “morally bankrupt,” saying Trump wants “to build a ballroom” while she wants “to build more affordable housing,” and noting that only one of them sits on the Appropriations Committee.
The administration’s proposal lands as Congress is still working through disputes over current-year spending. The White House’s budget arrives amid a broader fight that has included disagreement over Department of Homeland Security funding, with Democrats pressing for changes to Trump’s immigration enforcement regime that Republicans have said they are unwilling to accept. Trump also announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to pay DHS workers who had gone without paychecks during a record-long partial government shutdown that had reached 49 days.
Beyond the near-term negotiations, the budget highlights the political and arithmetic tension created by the federal government’s long-running deficits. The budget is presented while the country runs nearly $2 trillion in annual deficits and the debt has swelled past $39 trillion, according to the AP report. The wire story described that about two-thirds of annual spending goes to Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security income, which largely grow automatically, leaving a smaller portion of the budget as the main area of debate in Congress.
The AP report also said Trump’s proposal depends on Republican support to move parts of its defense increase through different budget paths. It suggested $1.1 trillion for defense would come through regular appropriations, which typically requires support from both parties, while $350 billion would be routed through budget reconciliation, which Republicans can accomplish with party-line votes.
An earlier version of the AP story misstated what NOAA stands for; it is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.