With much of the globe and American public focused exclusively on tariff mania, President Trump as well as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unveiled massive news on Monday, which would have normally made a bigger impact in headlines.
The Pentagon will soon have its first $1 trillion budget. President Trump said while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, "Nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build out military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something we have to build, and we have to be strong."
Trump announces record-breaking $1 trillion Pentagon budget:
— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 8, 2025
"$1 trillion, and nobody's seen anything like it. We have to build our military and we're very cost conscious. But the military is something that we have to build, and we have to be strong, because you got a lot of bad… pic.twitter.com/koqrAxPiKj
But ironically the announcement comes as the administration has been aggressively seeking to root out government waste and excess spending. The reality is that for decades both sides of the aisle have allowed defense spending to balloon unchecked. That looks to continue, and the big winner remains the military-industrial complex even amid a DOGE crackdown.
Hegseth too made the announcement on X while sharing the video of Trump praising the future one trillion dollar budget. "Thank you Mr. President! COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar [Defense Department] budget," the Pentagon chief said.
Even though the Department of Defense (DoD) has never had an official budget which reached that figure, it remains the actual cost of total US military spending has for several years running actually exceeded $1 trillion.
Biden's 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) totaled $895 billion, so a trillion appears the next natural progression, given the out of control nature of defense spending.
Commenting on a possible timeline for the 2026 budget rollout, Breaking Defense writes:
Exactly when the FY26 budget will drop, or what shape it will take, remains unclear. There has been talk of a “skinny budget” with few details coming first, and rumors that May is when budgets will be officially released, but nothing confirmed from the White House or Pentagon.
In a note to investors, TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer wrote that “based on last year’s Green Book, we assume this means a $50B increase for 050 National Defense, which was projected at $951B for the FY26 request.”
Critics of US foreign policy have ripped Trump for the move. For example, independent geopolitical analyst Tim Anderson writes, "Add another trillion to the US debt. None of the budget cuts in Washington have reached the Pentagon, which does precisely nothing to 'defend' the USA. The US military exclusively interferes in other countries."
