Trump wants to increase US military spending by 40% amid the war with Iran

WashingtonAfter addressing the nation to ask for more time and patience to end the war against Iran, Donald Trump is now looking to Congress for more money. The White House presented a budget this Friday to spend 1.5 trillion dollars on Defense in 2027. If approved, it would be the highest allocation in modern history, with a 40% increase compared to this year's accounts. Although the package is not directly linked to the conflict in the Middle East, it coincides with the first month of war. It is estimated that in the first 100 hours of war alone – which began on February 28 – Washington had spent a minimum of 3.7 billion dollars, about 891.4 million dollars daily. 100 hours of war – which began on February 28 – Washington had spent a minimum of 3.7 billion dollars, about 891.4 million dollars daily.

The details of the request still need to be finalized, as the administration has only presented a summary. The Republican government's plan would be to offset the increase with a cut of 73 billion dollars, which would involve the elimination of some programs for climate change and meteorological services, housing, and education. Trump returned to the White House with the promise of America First and of prioritizing the well-being of Americans, but now wants to disinvest in aid for citizens to dedicate it to foreign conflicts.

The president has already dismantled a large part of the meteorological emergency agency, FEMA, and has raised concerns about the country's ability to prevent future meteorological disasters. 2025 was marked by the deadly floods in Texas with at least 119 deaths and more than 160 missing. Furthermore, the president has already dismantled a large part of the social aid programs of the Department of Education.

Regarding housing, one of the few measures Trump has implemented to try to solve the crisis that Americans are suffering is to approve a decree law that prohibits Wall Street giants from buying buildings to rent them out. However, it leaves a legal loophole that does allow them to build housing for rental purposes. In recent years in the U.S., it has been seen how large private equity firms like Blackstone had already stopped betting on buying buildings and had moved directly to construction for rental purposes.

Cut in social programs

The cut in social programs to increase defense spending for fiscal year 2027 would also add to the bleeding that Trump caused last year with his Big Beautiful Bill. It is estimated that this fiscal law will leave more than 11 million Americans without medical coverage by 2034. As the president wanted to extend the tax cuts for companies that he approved during his first term, he had to cut from somewhere. And that is why he cut approximately one trillion dollars from Medicaid – one of the programs to receive medical assistance in a country without a public healthcare system – and reduced food assistance for the most vulnerable.

The Big Beautiful Bill

already foresaw increasing public debt by more than 3.3 trillion dollars, and now, the defense budget that Trump has presented threatens to inflate it even further. Not to mention how the deficit created in the first month of war will also impact the country's debt. One of the republican's other campaign promises was to reduce the public debt of the United States and under this supposed premise, Trump let Elon Musk run the chainsaw through federal agencies in the first months of his government. A wave of layoffs that also served the magnate to purge the civil service.