Hegseth requests $1.5T for Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged lawmakers Wednesday to approve a $1.5 trillion budget for the Pentagon next year, saying it was necessary to put the defense industrial base on a “wartime footing” after being “hollowed out” under the Biden administration.

“A nation’s ability to build, innovate, and support the critical needs of its warfighters at speed and at scale is the foundation upon which its survival rests,” he told the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the Pentagon’s FY 2027 budget request.

The massive budget would represent nearly a 50% increase over current spending levels and mark the highest defense spending in modern history.

“We are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a wartime footing,” he said, criticizing the military budgets under the Biden administration.

“We’re rebuilding a military that the American people can be proud of — one that instills nothing less than unrelenting fear in our adversaries and the utmost confidence in our allies.”

Administrations submit budget requests to Congress, but it is ultimately up to lawmakers to craft the appropriations bills that provide the funding.

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