In fiscal year 2015, Pentagon and related spending will total $598 billion, accounting for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending. That's roughly the size of the next seven largest military budgets around the world, combined.
Trump's FY 2027 Pentagon budget request includes $95 billion for munitions, which - if passed - would be 20% more than the U.S. Department of Education’s entire 2026 discretionary budget. Each of the missiles the Department of War wants to produce cost millions of taxpayer dollars. To break down the enormity of these per-unit costs, we provide examples of social programs that could be funded for the price of a single PrSM, Tomahawk, and THAAD missile, sourced from the National Priorities Project’s trade-off calculator.
The president’s budget request throws the vast wealth of this country in the hands of weapons contractors while providing almost nothing for struggling Americans. It requests a $445 billion, or 42 percent, increase for war, bringing the total war budget to an unprecedented $1.5 trillion.
Instead of more funding for weapons and war, Americans deserve a government that supports them when times are tough. In fact, the cost to provide Medicaid to 14 million Americans at risk of losing their insurance AND provide SNAP benefits to the 3.5 million who have already lost benefits amounts to less than the Pentagon’s $156 billion bonus – just $116 billion.
Spending on Operation Southern Spear and Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific cost at least $4.7 billion from August 1, 2025-March 31, 2026. Costs will continue to mount as some naval assets and aircraft remain in the region and strikes continue.
