Despite DOGE, Pentagon escapes Donald Trump's budget cuts unscathed

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Updated July 2, 2025, 5:36 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON − In February, before President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's very public feud, the president bragged his ally would find "hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse" in the Defense Department budget.

Less than five months later, the Pentagon formally announced the country's first-ever $1 trillion defense budget proposal for fiscal year 2026, eclipsing the previous year's enacted total by more than $100 billion. The direct "savings from DOGE collaboration" touted in the Defense Department's budget rollout? Only $6 billion.

Although Congress must legislate and approve the full budget, an initial tranche of the fiscal 2026 funding − $119.3 billion of the $1.01 trillion − for the Defense Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration will likely arrive via Trump's tax and spending package, which he has dubbed "one, big beautiful bill." The administration staked key portions of the defense budget on Trump's megabill, which includes controversial conservative policy priorities.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the budget is needed to "end four years of chronic underinvestment in our military." Former President Joe Biden requested increased levels of defense spending, but congressional Republicans asked for even more. A DOD spokesperson told USA TODAY that Hegseth continues to review programs for cuts or further reallocations.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/02/trump-defense-budget-hits-1-trillion-despite-doge/84419890007/

[Historic NY]

1. The Black hole of Calcutta

where US dollars go to die

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. Well, I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!

(Yeah, like we didn't know they would 'skip' the DOD. I have yet to see a president or a cabinet that would even entertain the idea of addressing that bloated budget.)

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The difference I think

is redirecting the funding and their priorities towards war within the U.S. vs defending the U.S. from foreign attack and "spreading democracy around the world" (where "democracy" will instead be suppressed here).

[OldBaldy1701E]

4. Well, the absolute arrogance of trying to convert the world to a biased, corrupted system is bad enough...

But, we will leave it for now.

The fact is, they want to put as much money into their ability to squash dissent as they can get away with. They will literally use our own troops to control the country. If the DOD (and their budget) had been better regulated in the past...

Oh well...

[Bayard]

5. $1 trillion defense budget....

We already have enough weapons to kill everyone in the world ten times over. $1 trillion would feed a lot of starving people, including in this country if this Big Ugly Bill goes through.