WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump on Friday released his administration's fiscal 2027 budget proposal, asking Congress to boost the U.S. defense budget to $1.5 trillion while cutting spending across domestic agencies. The request, outlined in a White House budget document prepared by Budget Director Russ Vought, would mark the largest expansion in U.S. military spending since World War Two.

Approximately $1.1 trillion of the total would be in discretionary spending for the Pentagon, the highest on record. Another $350 billion, designated specifically for the industrial defense base, would come through a budget reconciliation process requiring a simple Senate majority of 51 votes. The budget request is separate from the $200 billion the Pentagon sought last month for the war in Iran and to backfill munitions and supplies.

The proposal includes funding for the Golden Dome missile defense system, $65.8 billion in shipbuilding funding including for a "Golden Fleet" of next-generation vessels and new Trump-class battleships, and pay raises for U.S. troops. Administration officials have warned that the U.S. currently lags behind China in both shipbuilding capacity and total output. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that space-based systems for the Golden Dome could cost $542 billion over 20 years, and experts have said the total cost could eventually consume a large portion of the defense budget.

At a private event at the White House earlier in the week, Trump said that military spending should be a national priority. "It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things, they can do it on a state basis," Trump said.

Non-defense spending in the proposed budget fell by 10%, or about $73 billion. The proposal calls for cuts across domestic agencies, including eliminating some climate, housing and education programs, as well as reductions to renewable energy projects and health programs. A White House summary posted online stated that cuts would be achieved by "reducing or eliminating woke, weaponised and wasteful programmes, and by returning local responsibilities to their respective governments."

The plan also includes continued funding for immigration enforcement operations, money to hire air traffic controllers, and billions of dollars for beautification projects in Washington, D.C. A tax cuts bill signed last year separately provided at least $150 billion for the Pentagon over the next several years, along with $170 billion for immigration and deportation operations at the Department of Homeland Security.

Vought spoke to House GOP lawmakers on a private call Thursday, a day before the proposal's release. Congress retains the authority to reject or modify the president's budget proposal, as only Congress handles federal spending. The U.S. was running nearly $2 trillion in annual deficits with a national debt exceeding $39 trillion. About two-thirds of the nation's estimated $7 trillion in annual spending covers Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs, with the remaining budget typically split roughly evenly between defense and domestic accounts at nearly $1 trillion each.