Members of U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) attend Jared Isaacman's, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) testifying during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
President Donald Trump is asking Congress to slash non-defense programs by more than $163 billion while keeping military funding flat. But “flat” means “cut” in GOP terms because it does not contain the $3 trillion required to fully support the military. Military-minded congressional Republicans are worried.
The White House budget proposal requests a 20 percent across-the-board cut, giving some in the GOP headaches leading up to the Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline, Politico reports.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) called the proposal “late” and lacking “key details,” and voiced “serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the security challenges we face." She also opposed major slashing to non-military programs.
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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) described the president’s budget blueprint as fraught with Office of Management and Budget “accounting gimmicks” that fail to “counter the growing, coordinated challenges we face from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and radical terrorists.”
“But they won’t fool Congress,” McConnell added.
Other pro-military Republicans like Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said the White House’s request “a cut in real terms” for the U.S. military with an “intent to shred to the bone our military capabilities and our support to service members.”
Wicker’s state of Mississippi contains shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls, which drew down $1.6 billion in Department of Defense money in 2022. Second in line is DOD contractor ST Engineering, earning $651.8 million in defense contracting in a state with an economy valued only at $157.5 billion in 2024.
Aside from budget concerns, if Republicans agree with White House cuts, they risk losing Democratic support to pass a budget filibuster in Senate.
Read the full Politico story here.