Budget Experts Question Trump’s $1.5T DOD Budget Plan
President Donald Trump’s call for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year (FY) 2027 drew sharp reactions, as fiscal watchdogs warned of major debt impacts while Republican leaders praised the proposal as necessary to counter global threats.
Trump said last week that his administration would seek $1.5 trillion in military spending for FY 2027 – a record level and hundreds of billions of dollars above recent annual defense budgets.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump cited global security concerns and said the higher funding level would allow the U.S. to build what he described as a “Dream Military” and keep the country safe.
“Our military budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 trillion, but rather $1.5 trillion. This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us safe and secure, regardless of foe,” the post read.
The administration has not formally submitted a Pentagon budget request for FY 2027. Congress has not yet passed full-year defense appropriations for FY 2026.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan nonprofit, said the proposed increase would have significant long-term fiscal consequences.
The group estimated that a $1.5 trillion defense budget beginning in fiscal 2027 would raise defense spending by about $5 trillion through 2035 and add $5.8 trillion to the national debt, including interest.
The proposed increase would represent a sharp rise in Pentagon spending, raising questions about how the increase would be financed. Trump has said tariff revenue could help fund higher military spending, along with rebate payments and deficit reduction, but the committee said available estimates do not support that claim.
“Policymakers should not rely on existing tariff revenue … and even if they did it would fall far short of covering the costs of such a large defense spending increase,” the committee said.
The Congressional Budget Office projected that current tariffs would raise about $2.5 trillion in additional revenue through 2035, or roughly $3 trillion including interest. But “on a dynamic basis, the revenue is likely to be somewhat smaller,” the report said.
Trump also acknowledged that without tariff revenue, military spending in 2027 should be limited to $1 trillion.
Republican leadership, however, has voiced support for Trump’s $1.5 trillion budget plan.
In a joint statement, Republican leaders on the Senate and House Armed Services committees welcomed Trump’s proposal, calling it a “necessary investment to rebuild the military and address threats from China, Russia, Iran and narco-terrorism,” according to the statement posted to X.
“President Trump’s decisive commitment reverses years of neglect. He is replacing rhetoric with investment and sending a message to our adversaries,” the statement read.
In a separate statement on X, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called Trump’s FY 2027 proposal the “largest peacetime military buildup in decades.”
Despite praise from Republican leadership, the committee claimed that “given the $175 billion appropriated to the defense budget under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, there is little case for a near-term increase in military spending.”
However, Wicker has previously argued that the FY 2026 requested amount was insufficient and did not align with the president’s vision for military spending, claiming that it relies on reconciliation funds intended for long-term use, rather than requesting what he described as real growth in the base defense budget.
The Pentagon’s FY 2026 proposal seeks about $848.3 billion in discretionary base funding, with total national defense spending reaching roughly $1.01 trillion when supplemental and mandatory funds are included. […]

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