The incoming Democratic majorities have told us one of the first things they plan to do with their power, and it is to cut the money our military says it needs.
President Trump asked for $1.5 trillion for national defense in fiscal 2027. Democrats are likely to approve only a figure around $1 trillion, according to a person familiar with the planning quoted by Bloomberg in a report published Sunday by The Spokesman-Review.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee and expected to lead it again in January, said so plainly in a statement after the election, reported by The Center Square. “We must push for the development of a more realistic and sustainable approach to our national security – one that does not require a defense budget in excess of $1 trillion or one paid for with draconian cuts to critical domestic programs,” Smith said.
He added, “The list of potential oversight topics is long, but the illegal war against Iran is top of mind for me and the American people.” Bloomberg reported that Smith told The New Republic that cutting war funding will be “one of the first things we do.”
What is on the chopping block
The $1.5 trillion request has two parts. Defense One reported that the base budget request is $1.1 trillion, about 28 percent above the fiscal 2026 defense bill Congress enacted. Republicans had planned to supply roughly $350 billion more through a party-line reconciliation bill, The Center Square reported.
That reconciliation money was meant to pay for a surge in air and missile defense munitions such as Patriot, THAAD, SM-3 and SM-6, along with hypersonic weapons, according to Defense One. It also carried $17 billion for a new Golden Dome for America Fund and nearly $54 billion for unmanned systems. Defense One identified Golden Dome’s space-based interceptors and the Navy’s planned Trump-class battleship as likely Democratic targets.
Republicans still control Congress until Jan. 3, but The Center Square reported that with roughly eight weeks left, finishing the defense policy bill, the defense spending bill and a reconciliation package is unlikely. Some Democrats now want to wait. “Now that we have these kinds of majorities, I don’t know that we need a long-term bill,” Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland said on Bloomberg TV.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth made his case in a Nov. 5 video. “We need every vote from every patriotic member of Congress,” he said.
What Democrats can and cannot do
The Center Square noted that Democrats will not have the votes to override a presidential veto. They can kill the $350 billion supplemental, but they likely cannot force a ban on funding the Iran campaign into law.
Defense One also reported that Democrats are expected to keep funding the replenishment of munitions stockpiles drawn down against Iran, even while opposing the war itself.
The bottom line
I understand why Americans are weary of the Iran war, and Democrats have every right to hold hearings and demand answers about it. But cutting the war is not the same as cutting the defense budget, and Democrats are blurring the two.
Missile defense, munitions and ships are not Iran-only expenses. China is building, Russia is still at war, and Iran just threatened to “rain down hell.” An arsenal that has been spent down needs to be rebuilt, not starved.
Republicans should use the lame duck to pass a full defense bill while they still can, and Democrats should be pressed on exactly which defenses they intend to leave unfunded.