The Pentagon is requesting $848.3 billion for its fiscal year 2026 budget, a cut to core military spending when accounting for inflation.
But while releasing many of the military’s detailed budget materials Thursday, senior military and defense officials argued that their request should factor in a separate party-line spending bill now under debate in Congress.
This one-time bill includes $113 billion in mandatory military spending and would bring the Pentagon’s total to $961 billion — close to the trillion-dollar defense budget President Donald Trump has pledged.
Such supplemental defense bills are normally not counted toward the Pentagon’s base budget, the same way a bonus doesn’t normally figure into an annual salary. This year, though, the Defense Department has chosen to split its spending request into two bills, shifting core weapons programs such as shipbuilding and missile defense into the one-time spending package.
Lawmakers from both parties in Congress criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the delayed and unusual budget during multiple days of testimony earlier in June. The secretary has argued that the request shouldn’t be an issue — saying they have “two bills and one budget.”
Members of Congress have said this process has created unnecessary confusion and puts many of the military’s most important weapons programs at risk. The companies that make these systems now won’t know if their funding will continue beyond the coming fiscal year and may be more hesitant to invest their own money.
The senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, disputed this concern Thursday.
“Reconciliation is actually a stronger demand signal for those companies,” the official said, referring to the spending process, which may arrive earlier than the Pentagon’s core defense budget.
The official wouldn’t project what the Pentagon would request the following year — the $961 billion including the one-time spending package or the $848 billion without. The official also didn’t specify how the Pentagon was preparing for the chance that the one-time bill doesn’t pass, jeopardizing many of the priorities included within.
“We have not yet discussed what that will look like for [fiscal year 2027], but unless the President’s tone changes, I imagine we’ll stick with a trillion dollars for national defense spending,” the official said.
In a highly unusual release, the Pentagon published a tranche of its budget documents without notice Wednesday evening. Given the amount of taxpayer money involved, the process typically involves a public briefing announced in advance.
As of Thursday morning, the Pentagon still hadn’t published the broad overview of its budget and many of the other documents detailing what is going toward the military services.
Hegseth entered office promising to disrupt the military’s bureaucracy, including its spending plans. He’s since launched an effort to redirect $50 billion of the budget each year to higher-priority programs. The officials speaking Thursday said that money was largely found through large cuts to the Pentagon workforce.
Those priorities include Golden Dome — a planned homeland missile defense system — with $25 billion planned for FY26 and the military’s expanding role at the southwest border, with $5 billion also pledged for the operation. Much of the administration’s effort to revitalize America’s lagging shipbuilding industry will also rely on the one-year defense supplemental bill.
The Defense Department also chose to cut major aircraft programs, such as the E-7 Wedgetail, a surveillance plane. Funding for the Navy’s new fighter jet is also majorly reduced, including only $74 million to the program to finish its design.
“We’re waiting for a decision from the secretary of the Navy, secretary of defense and the President. That’s an active conversation right now,” the official said of whether to maintain the program.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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