Republican lawmakers are calling the White House’s defense budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year an overall cut to the military following Friday’s release of the so-called skinny budget.
While the White House is claiming that the Fiscal Year 2026 proposal would include the first $1 trillion defense budget, Republicans on Capitol Hill say that number includes dollars from the current reconciliation proposal and argue that accounting does not add up to the defense spending they want to see from the new administration.
A White House document reviewed by USNI News said that the Trump Administration’s budget will seek a $113.3 billion increase to the Defense Department’s topline and specifically cites shipbuilding and recapitalizing nuclear deterrence as priorities.
The budget “expands U.S. shipbuilding capacity by investing in America’s shipyards and industrial base, increasing wages, and modernizing infrastructure,” reads an OMB summary.
The $150 billion reconciliation defense proposal was designed as a stand-alone supplemental to buy assets over four years, rather than a single year, to boost programs like the Golden Dome missile defense shield and unmanned defense systems, according to the source. With the reconciliation supplement removed, the FY 2026 request is $892.6 billion – about the same as the Biden administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 request.
“This budget is a cut to the military, same as the past four years,” a Republican legislative source familiar with the proposal told USNI News on Friday.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, criticized the budget’s lateness in a Friday statement, adding that she has “serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the security challenges we face.”
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a statement, blamed White House Office of Management and Budget “bureaucrats” for the state of the defense industrial base.
“We are currently at the lowest level of defense spending as a percentage of GDP since before World War II. That is no longer sustainable in the threat environment we face,” Rogers said in a Friday statement.
“I am very concerned the requested base budget for defense does not reflect a realistic path to building the military capability we need to achieve President Trump’s Peace Through Strength agenda,” he continued. “I look forward to working with the President and the Senate to achieve real growth in the defense budget and put America on track to realize the President’s goal of investing five percent of GDP on defense for NATO countries.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, similarly criticized OMB advisors for the proposal.
“For the defense budget, OMB has requested a fifth year straight of Biden administration funding, leaving military spending flat, which is a cut in real terms,” Wicker said in a statement. “The Big, Beautiful Reconciliation Bill was always meant to change fundamentally the direction of the Pentagon on programs like Golden Dome, border support, and unmanned capabilities – not to paper over OMB’s intent to shred to the bone our military capabilities and our support to service members.”
“I have said for months that reconciliation defense spending does not replace the need for real growth in the military’s base budget,” Wicker added. “That is what I will work to achieve in Congress with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to implement the President’s Peace Through Strength agenda.”
The document laying out the administration priorities details a series of increases and cuts to various programs but does not provide a breakdown by line item or program for the Pentagon.
The reconciliation bill was released Sunday and the $150 billion defense package includes a $33.8 billion shipbuilding supplemental for 16 ships. The structure of the reconciliation allows a simple majority in the House and the Senate to approve the bill, avoiding a potential filibuster in the Senate. The House Armed Services Committee marked up and passed the defense portion of the bill this week and the legislation is awaiting further action in the Senate.
“It appears the Trump Administration’s FY26 defense budget request will double down on the Biden Administration’s material neglect for the glaring national security threats challenges about which they speak with great alarm,” reads a statement from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.
“America cannot expect our allies to heed calls for greater annual defense spending if we are unwilling to lead by example,” McConnell added.
