The defense funding process is officially off the rails.
Three developments this week underscored the herculean battle Congress faces to deliver on vast swaths of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense spending push.
Supplemental uncertainty. Hill appropriators have been practically begging for more information so they can begin considering tens of billions of dollars in supplemental spending to backfill military stockpiles drawn down by the Iran war.
The Pentagon is only months away from running out of funding for Iran operations, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Wednesday. Despite that looming financial deadline, the Trump administration still hasn’t sent over its funding request to cover the Iran war.
That’s irked leading lawmakers, including Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), the chair of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
“I’m looking forward to seeing a supplemental here soon, and I’m sure that the [Defense Department] obviously needs it and they’re working on it, so I’m anxious to get it — hopefully, like, any day now,” Calvert told us this week.
Vast topline gulf. The two parties are in vastly different places on the FY2027 topline defense spending figure. Senate Republican and Democratic appropriators couldn’t even begin topline spending negotiations this week because they’re so far apart on defense dollars.
“I don’t have a deal between the administration and the legislative leadership of both chambers,” said Cole. “I don’t have a deal between House and Senate Republicans, and I don’t have a congressional budget resolution.”
Reconciliation siren warnings. Senior GOP lawmakers are warning in very stark terms that they may not be able to process a third reconciliation package, which the Pentagon is relying on for nearly a quarter of its $1.5 trillion request.
Lawmakers have said the lack of adequate details and DOD’s reliance on the uncertain partyline process to fund key priorities makes their task even harder.
“There’s important stuff in it,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said of the reconciliation request Tuesday. “Helping us understand our role here on the Appropriations Committee and how this maps forward is important.”
