President Donald Trump yesterday requested a 10 per cent cut in non-defence spending for the 2027 fiscal year and a massive $500 billion increase in the military budget, as the US continues its war against Iran.
The 2027 budget request comes as the president faces risky choices abroad, with the administration sending US service members to the Middle East, and a weary public at home feeling the economic crunch of skyrocketing gas prices due to the conflict.
The request ultimately requires approval by Congress, where disagreement over Trump’s spending decisions recently led to the longest government shutdown in US history.
The huge proposed surge in defence spending to $1.5trillion, up from about $1trn in 2026, includes a 5pc to 7pc pay raise for military personnel at a time when thousands of servicemembers are actively deployed. The White House boasted that this defence funding approaches the “historic increases just prior to the Second World War.” The hefty ask contrasts with the more skeptical view Trump took towards military spending in his first term, when he even once called the level of funding “crazy.”
Trump came into office vowing to cut federal spending and rein in the nation’s growing budget deficit, bringing in the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, to lead an effort that pushed about 300,000 people off the federal payroll.
Despite that, the nation’s deficit, the gap between the amount of money the federal government takes in and how much it spends, has continued to widen, with the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office forecasting a $1.853trn shortfall in the fiscal year that ends on September 30, deeper than last year’s $1.775trn.
The nation’s $39.016trn debt has continued to grow under Republican and Democratic governments in part because most of the political battles around spending revolve around the amount Congress directly controls, the roughly one quarter of the budget known as ‘discretionary spending’.
The 2027 budget request did not grapple with the most expensive part of mandatory federal spending – social security retirement and medicare health spending for senior citizens – where suggesting cuts is considered politically perilous. If enacted, total federal spending would reach $2.2trn in 2027, compared with the roughly $1.8trn spent for the current fiscal year.
The military request will please defence hawks on Capitol Hill, but also highlights how Trump is trying to pay for doubling down on military pursuits, even after Republicans boosted defense spending last year in party-line legislation. The Pentagon already requested $200bn in extra funding to pay for the Iran war, but the White House has not yet officially made that request to Congress, where it is also likely to face scrutiny from legislators in both parties.
Other specific funding increases proposed by Trump include his controversial Golden Dome missile defence shield.
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