{"id":70153,"date":"2025-05-02T17:37:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/05\/02\/trump-requests-8926-billion-base-defense-budget-a-real-terms-cut\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:10:28","slug":"trump-requests-8926-billion-base-defense-budget-a-real-terms-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2025\/05\/02\/trump-requests-8926-billion-base-defense-budget-a-real-terms-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump requests $892.6 billion base defense budget, a real-terms cut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trump administration is requesting a $892.6 billion base defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year, an overall cut when adjusted for inflation and far below the $1 trillion figure<\/a> President Donald Trump promised last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The request, released by the Office of Management and Budget without further detail Friday, did not include how much of that figure is slated for the Pentagon alone. Military spending is usually 95% of the national defense budget, which would put the Defense Department\u2019s share around $852 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration framed the number as a large increase in the defense budget, or $961 billion for the Pentagon. That said, a footnote in the White House\u2019s request explains the total assumes Congress will pass a separate party-line spending package<\/a> under debate right now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe President wants to increase defense spending to $1 trillion, a 13% increase to keep our country secure. This budget provides that level while ensuring that only Republican-votes are needed by using reconciliation to secure those increases without Democrats insisting on increasing wasteful government,\u201d OMB Director Russell Vought posted on X Friday<\/a>, referring to the party-line spending process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That bill includes $150 billion for defense, including many of Trump\u2019s priorities, such as shipbuilding<\/a> and missile defense<\/a>. The administration could spend a large share of that money up front, but the bill hasn\u2019t passed yet and includes funding available for the next several years, not in the upcoming fiscal year alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total is also not part of the Pentagon\u2019s \u201cbase budget,\u201d or the government equivalent of an annual salary, not year-end bonuses. Congress regularly passed extra money for the Pentagon during the Biden administration, responding to America\u2019s support for the wars in Israel and Ukraine. Those packages didn\u2019t factor into the overall Pentagon top line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOMB is not requesting a trillion-dollar budget. It is requesting a budget of $892.6 billion, which is a cut in real terms,\u201d Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote in a Friday statement highly critical of the request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking alongside the president in April, pledged a $1 trillion defense budget, leaving some in Congress confused as to what they meant. Would that be the Pentagon budget alone or be for all national security spending? Would it be the base budget or include additional defense spending that Congress regularly passes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCOMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget,\u201d Hegseth posted on the social platform X afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you Mr. President!

COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense<\/a> budget.

President @realDonaldTrump<\/a> is rebuilding our military \u2014 and FAST.

(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely \u2014 on lethality and readiness) pic.twitter.com\/WcZlNAHgDG<\/a><\/p>— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 7, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>