Senator Calls for Revised Defense Budget After $1.5 Trillion Proposal

A senator from Arizona described the Trump administration's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2027 as outrageous and urged the White House to submit a proposal that makes sense for the current situation. The Department of Defense released the proposal in late April. It marks a $500 billion increase from the $1 trillion budgeted in 2026 and is the largest proposal in history.

The budget does not include the costs of the Iran war. "The $1.5 trillion request from this administration, it's outrageous," the senator said on CBS's Face the Nation. "When I got to the Senate 5 1/2 years ago, the defense budget was just over $700 billion.

Now they're asking for twice as much money. " The senator did not explicitly state opposition to the budget but indicated skepticism. The proposal includes funding for the Golden Dome, a Golden Fleet, raises for service members, and a 44,000-troop increase.

"There's stuff in there, like the Golden Dome — the physics on that stuff is really, really hard," the senator said. "I'm very confident we're going to spend a lot of money, and we're going to get a system that doesn't work. There are other things in there we do not need.

Budget Context The senator, a retired U.S.

Navy captain, has had disagreements with the Trump administration since the start of the president's second term. The senator is currently in active litigation against the Defense Secretary after the Pentagon leader attempted to reduce the senator's military rank over a video urging military members to ignore illegal orders.

The $1.5 trillion national defense budget does not include costs associated with the Iran war.