Trump plans record $1.32 trillion national security budget
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Surpassing the US$1 trillion mark in defence spending will likely cause sticker shock among US lawmakers.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump will request a record US$1.01 trillion (S$1.32 trillion) in national security spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct 1, more than 13 per cent over the current year’s figure, according to administration officials familiar with the matter.
The defence budget will fund the Golden Dome missile defence project
One of the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing figures that have not been released, said the 13 per cent increase echoes a defence build-up overseen by former president Ronald Reagan.
The Trump administration has sought to slash some spending at the Pentagon
The overall request, which includes defence support funding for the Department of Energy, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other smaller agencies, totals about 3.2 per cent of gross domestic product, similar to the fiscal year 2024 figure.
It is up from US$892.3 billion in overall national security spending for 2025.
The figure will be unveiled as part of the “skinny” budget request for the 2026 fiscal year that Mr Trump is set for release on May 2.
It allows lawmakers to begin work on fiscal 2026 appropriation Bills and offers a glimpse into the administration’s funding priorities.
It is a step-up from a proposal in November from former president Joe Biden’s defence secretary, Mr Lloyd Austin, who sought a defence-only five-year plan that started with US$926.5 billion in fiscal year 2026.
The Pentagon-only request is US$961 billion, as compared with the US$848.3 billion passed in January, the officials said.
The Biden administration in 2024 projected a US$876.8 billion defence-only budget.
The fiscal 2026 request includes some of the US$150 billion that Congress is pursing in additional “reconciliation” defence spending to 2025’s already passed defence discretionary package, said one of the officials.
Surpassing the US$1 trillion mark in defence spending will likely cause sticker shock among US lawmakers, who have criticised the Pentagon’s repeated failure to produce financial statements that result in a clean audit.
On April 29, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the Department of Defence (DOD) disclosed about US$10.8 billion in fraud in 2017-2024.
“The full extent of fraud affecting DOD is not known but is potentially significant,” the GAO report said.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a pre-emptive defence of the amount in a social media post in April, writing that despite asking for the first trillion-dollar budget request, the Pentagon intended “to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely – on lethality and readiness”.
Mr Trump also earlier told reporters that the request would be high “because you’ve got a lot of bad forces out there now”.
“Nobody’s seen anything like it,” the President said. “We have to build our military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something that we have to build.” BLOOMBERG
