Defense Spending Reduction Caucus Slams Trump’s $1.5 Trillion War Budget Request

April 9, 2026 Press Release WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) and Ilhan Omar (MN-05), co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, released the following statement after President Trump submitted the annual Presidential Budget Request to Congress, which called for a $1.5 trillion budget to the Pentagon, a 42% increase from last year, while cutting domestic spending by more than 10%: “Donald Trump’s draconian proposal to boost the Pentagon’s budget beyond the already unthinkable $1 trillion mark, to an even more outrageous $1.5 trillion, could be the most egregious waste of taxpayer dollars we have ever seen. This would be a larger military budget than the next 34 countries combined. At a time when families are paying more to put food on the table, gas in the car, and get the healthcare they deserve, this budget proposal is a giveaway to defense contractors at the expense of the American people. “Additionally, we cannot justify continuing to increase the Pentagon’s budget when the agency cannot even successfully pass a fiscal audit. The lack of accountability and transparency at the Pentagon is simply unacceptable. No other federal agency is allowed to operate this way. It's past time to rein in wasteful spending on ineffective weapons programs, stop rewarding wealthy and powerful defense contractors, and restore fiscal discipline to the Pentagon. We will continue to push for the Pentagon to pass an audit before it wastes another dollar of taxpayer money.” Some of the proposed cuts to non-defense spending to pay for this outrageous increase include: Cut the EPA budget by half Cut $10.7 billion for housing Cut $8.5 billion for K-12 programs Cancel $15 billion for clean energy Cut $2.5 billion for clean drinking water Eliminate $1.6 billion for youth job training Cut $3.5 billion from the Labor Department Eliminate $395 million for senior employment Eliminate $775 million in food assistance grants Eliminate the National Endowment for Democracy Cut $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health Eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) And add trillions of dollars to the national debt over the next decade.