White House seeks massive increase in defense spending with $1.5 trillion ask in new budget request

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(CNN) — The White House is seeking roughly $1.5 trillion for defense as part of a fiscal 2027 budget request – a proposal that would boost military spending to its highest point in modern history as the Trump administration wages its war with Iran.

The blueprint released Friday would increase the government’s defense spending by more than 40% compared to last year, bolstering its ability to purchase more munitions and build out the US naval fleet while also beginning construction on President Donald Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system.

Of the $445 billion that the administration wants to add to the defense budget, the White House is proposing that $350 billion of it be passed as part of forthcoming legislation that Republicans are planning to pass using a maneuver that requires only a majority vote in the Senate.

The historic defense spending levels come with the US in the midst of an ongoing war with Iran and other simmering conflicts around the world. And it signals little interest within the White House to shift its attention and resources elsewhere, despite Trump’s repeated assurance that he plans to wind down the fighting in the Middle East within weeks.

The budget proposal, by contrast, seeks to slash nondefense spending by 10% — a $73 billion cut that would fall primarily on housing, social services, health care and other domestic programs that the administration has derided as “woke.”

The annual White House budget amounts to an administration wish list that is rarely enacted in full by Congress, which retains control over government spending and has often ignored whole swaths of the administration’s blueprint in the past.

The White House’s budget proposal also includes requests for more spending on immigration enforcement, investments in critical minerals and the beautification of Washington, DC — all areas that Trump spent considerable attention on during his first year back in office.