The Trump administration is preparing the fiscal 2027 budget request, and initial indications are that it's a humdinger - an added $1.5 trillion for the War Department, a boost of almost half a trillion dollars. Oh, and a lot of Biden-era horse squeeze is being defunded.
Our armed forces, we might point out, are actually an enumerated power of the federal government, as opposed to the aforementioned horse squeeze. So, this is a step in the right direction, as far as priorities are concerned.
The White House is proposing in its 2027 budget request to Congress on Friday at least $1.5 trillion for the Department of War, upping defense spending by $445 billion from the previous year as the war against Iran continues.
Of that, $1.15 trillion is marked as discretionary spending, and at least $350 billion of that sum will be provided via budget reconciliation to expand the defense industrial base amid the ongoing war with Iran.
Federal law enforcement funding will also get a $19 billion requested increase.
And the Office of Management and Budget has requested a $73 billion cut in non-defense spending and other so-called “woke” programs from the past administration — a 10% decrease from the 2026 fiscal year.
What's not clear is whether the Trump administration is using the magic code-words of previous administrations, where a "decrease in the rate of increase" is called a "cut."
Some specifics for the War Department include:
The defense budget includes a pay bump of between six and seven percent for all troops, funds to fund “critical munitions,” development of President Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system, investments “in critical minerals and domestic supply chains,” as well as $65.8 billion for shipbuilding.
It's a substantial increase, and the Office of Management and Budget is already complaining:
“This amount exceeds even the 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,” stated an OMB fact sheet.
“The whole of government, whole of nation shipbuilding order of 41 ships alone represents the largest demand signal to the maritime industrial base since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.”
Note that a lot of munitions have just been expended, turning Iran's weapons stockpiles and industrial supply chain into rubble and scrap, while also managing to permanently revoke the birth certificates of not only the lead goblin, the late and unlamented Ayatollah Aki Khamenei, but also a lot of his underlings - and maybe his replacement. The munitions used to do all this have to be replaced; all the guns in the world are no good if you don't have ammo.
Also, shipbuilding: This is an area where the United States has been a day late and a dollar short since the end of the Cold War. For most of the post-World War 2 era, the United States Navy has been enforcing a Pax Americana on the world's ocean shipping lanes, but we can't do that if we don't have enough ships. Years of Democrat neglect of our armed forces, beginning with President Clinton and his "peace dividend," have left us kind of sucking wind.
Read More: Hegseth Stops a Nonsensical and Virtue-Signaling Investigation of Army Aviators Dead in Its Tracks
No More Sitting Ducks: SecWar Hegseth Empowers Our Warriors to Defend Themselves on Base
It's far from clear how much of President Trump's wish list will make it through Congress, of course. We can imagine there's an element of over-asking here; when I was a battalion S-4, where logistics were concerned, I had one rule: "Ask for twice what you want, and you might get half of what you need." That wouldn't be the least Trumpian way to approach this.
So far, this is just a hint at the ask. We'll have to wait a while yet to see the entire proposed budget. Meanwhile, you can view the budget request's initial top line here.
Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.
Help us report on Trump and Hegseth's successes as they make our military great again. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member