Newly released documents show the Department of Defense is asking for a base budget of $848 billion in fiscal year 2026, essentially a flat line budget from the current fiscal year.
DOD leaders said the rest of the funding they need will come from the more than $100 billion tucked into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congressional Republicans want to pass through a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process. If that bill passes, the base budget plus the one-time boost would total a $961 billion defense budget, which is close to the trillion-dollar budget President Trump promised.
“This historic defense budget prioritizes strengthening homeland security, deterring Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base, and maintaining our commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” a senior defense official told reporters Thursday at an off-the-record briefing, according to Defense One.
The budget levels have drawn criticism from defense hawks on Capitol Hill.
“Even including reconciliation, the fiscal year ’26 request is still just around 3% [of GDP] – that’s just half the level of the Reagan buildup that secured ‘peace through strength,’” Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said at a hearing this month. “It’s even less than the 4.5 percent of GDP requested for defense under President Carter.”
DOD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza
