President Donald Trump released his fiscal year 2027 budget proposal Friday requesting a historic $1.5 trillion for defense spending while simultaneously demanding a 10% reduction in domestic programs, setting up what promises to be a contentious battle with Congress over national priorities amid an ongoing war with Iran.

The 92-page budget request marks a 42% increase in military spending from current levels while cutting nondefense spending by $73 billion , representing what the White House calls the largest defense buildup since World War II. The proposal “exceeds even the [Ronald] Reagan buildup by approaching the historic increases just prior to World War II, a level that recognizes the current global threat environment and restores the readiness and lethality of our forces,” according to a White House summary.

The massive defense increase comes as the U.S. is spending billions of dollars for the war in Iran, and the White House is preparing to ask Congress for a supplemental spending package to cover the cost of the conflict . The request calls on Congress to pass a $1.1 trillion appropriations bill for the military and then approve another $350 billion under budget reconciliation, which allows the majority party to advance legislation by a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing the filibuster .

Congressional Democrats immediately condemned the proposal, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing Democrats will “fight this budget tooth and nail to ensure it never becomes law” while criticizing its allocation of $1.5 trillion in military spending while cutting “programs that Americans and seniors care about and rely on” .

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said the blueprint fails to help working Americans, arguing it “doesn’t address how to tackle the high price of gas or groceries that Americans are facing every day, our skyrocketing debt, or the looming Social Security insolvency” .

House Democrats proved equally critical. House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro said “families and hardworking people across the country are begging for lower prices, but President Trump is ignoring them,” adding his “war of choice with Iran is dragging on with no end in sight, while the cost of gas, groceries, and everyday goods is mounting day by day” .

Trump defended his priorities during a White House Easter event earlier this week, saying “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare,” insisting “The United States can’t take care of daycare — that has to be up to a state” .

The budget proposes sweeping cuts across federal agencies. It calls for $5 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health, saying NIH “broke the trust of the American people,” and $356 million in cuts to the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response . The IRS would see a $1.4 billion cut, with the White House touting cutting the agency’s workforce by 27% last year and describing it as a “bureaucratic morass” that “has been weaponized against the American people” .

The proposal includes $152 million to rebuild Alcatraz as a federal prison , fulfilling Trump’s pledge to reopen the infamous facility that housed Al Capone and other notorious criminals from 1934 to 1963.

The military increases would fund a 5 to 7% pay raise for troops and provide $65.8 billion for new ships while resupplying critical munition stocks depleted in the Iran conflict . The budget also aims to begin construction on Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system .

Budget Director Russell Vought, who spoke to House GOP lawmakers on a private call Thursday , emphasized the administration’s commitment to defense. “President Trump promised to reinvest in America’s national security infrastructure, to make sure our nation is safe in a dangerous world,” Vought wrote in the budget summary.

The proposal faces significant headwinds in Congress, where a Republican-controlled Congress already rejected most of Trump’s plans for deep spending cuts in the fiscal 2026 spending plan, settling instead on more modest reductions . The president’s budget serves as the starting point for negotiations with Congress over annual spending bills, though the spending levels Congress ultimately sets can substantially differ from presidential proposals .

The budget arrives as Congress remains deadlocked over current-year spending, with the Department of Homeland Security entering its 49th day of a partial shutdown over immigration enforcement disputes. Trump announced Thursday he would sign an executive order to pay all DHS workers who have gone without paychecks during the record-long shutdown .

Progressive lawmakers denounced the proposal’s priorities. Rep. Greg Casar, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote that “to pay for his endless wars, he wants the biggest increase to military spending in 70