President Donald Trump on Friday officially requested $1.5 trillion in spending for the Pentagon next fiscal year, which would be the largest defense budget in U.S. history. The spending cuts are similar to those that Congress rejected last year, said Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution. They “are essentially filler to make the defense increase look less unaffordable. The Pentagon has mulled asking for up to $200 billion from Congress for the war. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that raising defense spending by $1.5 trillion would add $6.9 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years when accounting for increased interest costs.

Source: Washington Post April 03, 2026 15:38 UTC