The same week Trump's administration allowed the Department of Homeland Security to hit 49 days without funding — the longest DHS lapse in U.S. history — he released a budget asking Congress to give the Pentagon $1.5 trillion. That's the largest defense spending request in decades. He wants to pay for it partly by cutting every non-defense domestic program by 10%, shifting those responsibilities to state and local governments that are not funded or equipped to absorb them.
The Numbers.
The budget proposes $1.1 trillion in defense through regular appropriations — which typically requires bipartisan support — and $350 billion through the budget reconciliation process, which Republicans can pass on a party-line vote without Democratic support. That $350 billion reconciliation piece also includes supplemental funding for the Iran war, which Democrats have vowed to block through normal channels. The total defense request of $1.5 trillion would represent a historic level of military spending even by American standards.
The budget was released while the DHS shutdown was at 49 days — the longest in U.S. history. FEMA's disaster relief fund is running dangerously low. 510+ TSA agents have resigned with no replacements trained. Trump simultaneously announced he would sign an executive order to pay all DHS workers — using funds not appropriated for that purpose — rather than simply pass a clean funding bill.
10% Cuts to Everything Else.
The non-defense side of the budget proposes shifting 10% of federal domestic program responsibilities to state and local governments. That framing — "shifting responsibilities" — is doing a lot of work. States do not have the tax base or reserve capacity to absorb a 10% reduction in federal housing, healthcare, education, and infrastructure funding. What this means in practice is cuts to the programs that people actually depend on, dressed up as federalism.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the budget demands a massive increase in defense while cutting billions from health care, housing, and more. His assessment: "This budget represents 'America Last.'" The national debt has already swelled past $39 trillion, with nearly $2 trillion in annual deficits. The administration is proposing to make the military dramatically bigger while making the safety net dramatically smaller — and doing so in the middle of a war that is spiking gas prices and destabilizing the global economy.
He wants $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon. FEMA is running out of money. DHS has been unfunded for 49 days. TSA agents are quitting. This is the budget of a government that has decided its people are not the priority.
The Timing Is the Message.
Trump didn't release this budget despite the DHS funding crisis. He released it during it — on the same day Congress was still scrambling to pass a fix that won't even come to a House vote until April 13. The juxtaposition is not accidental. The administration is telling you exactly what it values and what it doesn't. A $1.5 trillion Pentagon and a depleted FEMA are not contradictions in their framework. They're the point.
Sources
- NPR: Trump proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027 — largest such request in decades — while proposing 10% cuts to non-defense domestic programs.