What Happened?

More of your tax dollars would go to the military, and less to most other federal agencies, under the 2027 budget plan President Trump sent Congress. It asks for $1.154 trillion in yearly defense spending, about 3.4% of the economy, up from 2.8% in 2026, according to a Congressional Research Service report and a Legis1 review of the budget projections. ​

The plan would cut the nondefense money Congress sets each year by 10% in 2027 and push it below 2% of the economy by 2028. Counting extra defense money the administration wants through a separate budget bill, the full defense request reaches about $1.5 trillion, Reuters reported.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

That spending would come on top of years of borrowing. The government has spent more than it collected every year since 2002, the research office notes. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congress’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, estimates the deficit for the year that ended Sept. 30 at about $2 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Interest on the debt alone was projected to top $1 trillion in 2026, about 3.3% of the economy, and to keep climbing, CBO’s February outlook found. Last year’s tax and spending law already added $150 billion for defense and $129 billion for the Department of Homeland Security over 10 years, while its Medicaid changes are expected to shrink enrollment, the research office says.

Both Sides, Now

The White House says the plan puts the country’s finances on a new path. “Fiscal futility is ending,” budget director Russell Vought wrote, and the administration says savings would come from cutting programs it calls wasteful.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, called the request an out-of-touch plea for more weapons money. The Defense Department also remains the only major federal agency that has never passed a full financial audit, the Government Accountability Office reported last year, and Congress has given it until the end of 2028 to do so.

What Happens Next?

Congress decides how much each agency actually gets, and it hasn’t finished. A stopgap law keeps agencies running at current levels through Friday, Dec. 11, so lawmakers have until then to pass full-year spending bills or another extension.

There’s a second bill waiting too. In June, Vought asked House Speaker Mike Johnson for $87.6 billion in emergency money, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon’s Iran war costs, Breaking Defense reported. Congress has not approved that request.

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