The Pentagon is pursuing a record $1.5 trillion national security budget for fiscal year 2027, marking the largest US defense spending request in modern history and a roughly 40% increase over the current fiscal year, according to budget documents and congressional testimony.
The request comprises $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending and an additional $350 billion sought through a separate reconciliation bill, building on fiscal 2026’s already-record $1 trillion defense topline, which combined $838.7 billion in regular appropriations with $150 billion added through a reconciliation package. The Pentagon’s base budget alone would cross $1.1 trillion for the first time.
Top priorities in the request include modernizing the nuclear deterrent, developing the “Golden Dome” space-based missile defense system, expanding Navy shipbuilding by 34 vessels, replenishing munitions stockpiles, and investing in artificial intelligence, drones and other emerging technologies. Munitions procurement alone would nearly triple, to $76.3 billion from $26.8 billion in the current fiscal year, while defense-wide procurement spending would jump 571% to $101.4 billion.
The White House has proposed offsetting the increase with a 10% cut to other domestic spending programs, a move Democrats have called a non-starter, leaving the reconciliation portion of the request facing significant hurdles in a closely divided Congress. Supporters, including the chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services committees, have argued the increase is necessary given what they describe as the most dangerous global security environment since World War Two, citing simultaneous conflicts in Europe and the Middle East alongside rising tensions with China.
Critics note the request would nearly double what the US spent on defense in fiscal 2022, and that US defense spending already exceeds that of the next nine countries combined. The bill remains stalled in Congress, with some Republican lawmakers seeking to link its passage to unrelated legislation, including a voter identification measure.
