Defense Budget

Wed, Aug 19, 2026:

• Trump’s steam obsession risks crippling the U.S. carrier fleet - WP

Mon, Aug 17, 2026:

• I’m a hawk. I’m shocked by a $1.5 trillion defense budget. The request would top World War II spending while funding boondoggles and sweetheart deals. - WP

Wed, Aug 12, 2026:

• Taxpayers Funded a $533 Million Artillery Plant That Made Nothing - ProPublica

Mon, Aug 10, 2026:

• Hegseth can’t persuade Republicans to back his big budget - Politico

Wed, Aug 5, 2026:

• The Navy’s New Battleship Program: Costs and Implications for the Shipbuilding Industrial Base - CBO

• Cost of Trump’s Namesake Warships Likely to Rise by 50 Percent or More

  President Trump’s goal of building a “golden fleet” of 15 battleships could cost $275 billion, according to a government estimate. - NYT

Sat, Aug 1, 2026:

• Trump’s Fixation on Arctic Ships Led to Billions in No-Bid Contracts

  The president decided to buy 11 polar icebreakers after a game of golf with Finland’s president. Experts say it’s far from clear the United States needs so many. - NYT

Thurs, July 30, 2026:

• A shrinking weapons stockpile is testing the Pentagon’s sweeping new strategy. The Defense Department is betting on Silicon Valley start-ups to replenish stockpiles amid the Iran war. Now the firms must prove they can manufacture at military scale. - WP

Mon, July 27, 2026:

• As Congress acts on a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating beyond Oct. 1 at current levels, unless specified otherwise, it must decide whether to grant exceptions — potentially including $1 billion to start procuring parts for the first of a new line of proposed Trump-class battleships. But three GOP-majority defense committees have already said the funding would be premature, given that the ship is not yet fully designed. - Roll Call

Wed, July 22, 2026:

• The House on Wednesday passed a defense policy bill that incorporates President Donald Trump’s request for a historic $1.15 trillion in spending for national security and that would designate the Department of Defense as the Department of War… The National Defense Authorization Act is generally one of the more bipartisan bills that Congress takes up on an annual basis. That’s not the case this year. The vote was 216-212. - AP

Thurs, June 25, 2026:

• House panel advances $1.1 trillion defense spending bill with Department of War name change - Hill

Thurs, June 4, 2026:

• House panel advances $1.15 trillion defense bill after marathon debate - Hill

Tues, May 26, 2026:

• House rolls out $1.14 trillion defense bill. The legislation would authorize a huge rise in defense spending but also check the Pentagon’s cuts to its troop levels in Europe. - WP See bill language and summary HERE

• House NDAA draft would limit Trump’s troop cuts, battleship plans - Hill

Thurs, Feb 5, 2026:

• Members split on plan to use reconciliation again to boost defense. Defense chairs want a second reconciliation package to supplement the fiscal 2027 defense budget. - Roll Call

Fri, Jan 23, 2026:

• WSJ Editorial Board endorses Trump’s call to increase the defense budget from under $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion. - WSJ

  • Trillions Comment: This would be idiotic for a country that already spends more on defense than the next 8 or 9 countries combined, and has a rapidly growing and unsustainable public debt that exceeds the size of our economy. Moreover, enormously expensive hardware in an age of drone warfare makes no strategic or tactical sense. Finally, the WSJ editorial board should consider that effective strategic deterrence, as well as economic stability, are built on strong international alliances—an obvious reality that somehow escapes the fiscal policy and defense officials in the current Administration.

Wed, Jan 14, 2026:

• Congressional Budget Office says Sec. Hegseth’s name change from “Dept. of Defense” to “Dept. of War” could cost as much as $125 million - CBO

  • TrillionsWeekly comment: The name change itself is illegal and requires a statutory change by Congress. Unfortunately, this Administration routinely violates the law (see our webpage on illegal presidential impoundments and NYTimes recent summary of judicial rulings against the Administration).

Wed, Jan 7, 2026:

• Trump proposes massive increase in 2027 defense spending to $1.5T, citing ‘dangerous times’ - AP

• $1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Add $5.8 Trillion to Debt Over Decade - CRFB

• Trump Signs Order Pressing Defense Firms to Cut Buybacks - Bloomberg

Mon, Dec 29, 2025:

• Defense panels still not clear on Golden Dome’s attributes. Pentagon ‘owes us a clearer path forward and plan,’ Coons says - Roll Call

Thurs, Dec 11, 2025:

• Building Trump’s proposed missile and air defense system would be an enormous task--and the president’s spending target is likely just a fraction of the final price. - Bloomberg

• America can’t make what the Military needs - NYT

Wed, Dec 10, 2025:

• Hill resists as Trump seeks changes to defense spending - Punchbowl News

Mon, Dec 8, 2025:

• NDAA RELEASED: Lawmakers released a draft of the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense-spending policies and priorities. The proposal permits $901bn-worth of spending in fiscal year 2026, $8bn more than Trump requested. The bill reauthorizes $400m in aid for Ukraine, even though the administration has sounded ambivalent about defending the country, most recently in the new National Security Strategy. A separate defense appropriations bill is needed to make the funds available. - The Economist

• Compromise NDAA released with bigger topline, $8 billion above Pentagon’s request. The $8B jump is essentially a compromise from the House version, which stuck to the Pentagon’s budget request, and the Senate numbers, which were $32 billion above the department’s request. - BreakingDefense

Mon, Dec 1, 2025:

• Defense policy bill on the move - Roll Call
  Leaders of the Armed Services committees are reported to have finished their work on a compromise fiscal 2026 defense policy bill, and bill text is likely to be unveiled this week. House floor consideration could come next week.

Fri, Nov 14, 2025:

• Republicans turn on Trump’s defense policy chief. Administration allies say they are fed up with the Defense Department’s third-most senior leader and his foreign policy surprises. - Politico

Wed, Nov 12, 2025:

• Trump’s Pentagon name change could cost up to $2 billion. Officially changing the Department of Defense to the Department of War can only be done by Congress and would require updating thousands of signs, rewriting digital code and creating new letterheads, placards and badges. - NBC

Thurs, Oct 9, 2025:

• Senate Passes Bipartisan $925 Billion Defense Policy Bill. The legislation would provide a 3.8 percent pay raise for American troops, while funding weapons and overhauling military procurement. S 2296 passed 77-20 - NYT

Fri, Sept 5, 2025:

• The Return of the ‘War Department’ Is More Than Nostalgia. It’s a Message. President Trump and his defense secretary say they want to return to the era when America won wars. They largely ignore the greatest accomplishment of the past 80 years: avoiding superpower conflict. - NYT

• Trump unveils ‘Department of War’ — but Hill may have a say. Executive order reverses the Defense Department name adopted in 1949. - Roll Call

Wed, May 21 2025:

• Trump says U.S. has chosen plan for ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that deploying and operating just the space-based interceptors could cost up to $542 billion over the next two decades. - WP

Fri, Feb 21, 2025:

• Pentagon announces it plans to fire 5-8% of civilian workforce; pauses larger firings - CNN

• Hegseth directed senior Pentagon officials and military leaders to plan for an 8% cut to the defense budget for each year over the next 5 years - The Hill

Wed, Feb 19, 2025:

• Trump administration orders Pentagon to plan for sweeping budget cuts; Pentagon official said money saved through cuts could be “realigned” to other Trump defense priorities - WP

Wed, Dec 11, 2024:

• House approves $895 billion defense bill w/ pay raise for FY 2025 - AP