Trump wants $1 trillion for Pentagon
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan, in April. Photo: Alexander Kubitza
The White House said Friday that President Trump is seeking $1.01 trillion in defense spending for fiscal year 2026 — a whopping amount meant to sustain his national security blueprint, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Pentagon overhaul.
The big picture: It's an aggressive number to match aggressive goals. It's also a 13% increase at a time when Trump is calling for domestic spending to be slashed. Trump in April said nobody "has seen anything like it."
- In his first 100 days, the president pledged to revitalize American shipbuilding, which atrophied amid Chinese ascendence, and rolled out plans for a hemispheric missile shield, Golden Dome, reminiscent of Reagan-era plans.
- There is also the question of nuclear weapons modernization, which will alone cost $946 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
- Trump's stated priorities for the extra cash are strengthening homeland security, deterring China in the Indo-Pacific, and revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base.
Yes, but: Budget requests are wishlists. Congress ultimately cuts the check.
Between the lines: The White House plan calls for the additional $119 billion in defense spending to be included in the reconciliation bill currently being debated in Congress, while otherwise keeping the Pentagon budget at the same level as last year ($893 billion).
- A senior White House official told reporters that would be a "historic" overall spending figure, on par with Reagan-era highs as a proportion of GDP, and said including the plus-up in the reconciliation bill would allow it to be targeted for specific national security priorities.
- But Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has already raised concerns about that strategy, arguing the top line number for the Pentagon budget is insufficient.
- Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also raised concerns that the $893 billion number was not high enough.
Flashback: The numbers come a day after Hegseth ordered a rework of the Army. His memo included instructions to:
- Consolidate Futures and Training and Doctrine commands.
- Restructure manned attack helicopter formations and augment them with cheap, killer drones.
- Deploy by 2027 long-range missiles that can hit moving targets on land and at sea.
- Boost presence in the Indo-Pacific, where Washington and its friends butt heads with China.
What we're watching: More Hill reaction.
- Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Virginia Republican and former naval aviator, at an Axios event last month described $1 trillion as "a lot."
- "I applaud the prioritizing of the defense budget," she said at the time. "I think that is necessary again, because it's expensive to build things like submarines and aircraft carriers and ships. But there's a lot of pushback, even on my side of the aisle."
This story was updated with comments from Wicker and a senior White House official.
