The FY 2027 defense budget: How much is enough?

As Congress takes up the Pentagon’s budget for fiscal year 2027, several major funding requests are converging at once. The standard defense budget request alone totals $1.15 trillion. Lawmakers must also weigh an additional $350 billion in “mandatory funding” the Trump administration wants added, money that would be available to the Department of Defense to use as officials see fit. On top of that, there is also a separate $67 billion supplemental budget request tied to the Iran war. If all this money is approved, it would amount to the largest defense budget since World War II, adjusted for inflation. Together, these requests raise fundamental questions about how much the country should be spending on defense, what the money should fund, and what role congressional oversight and checks and balances should play.

On July 14, the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at Brookings will host an analytical discussion on these questions and the tradeoffs policymakers are facing. Viewers can submit questions via e-mail to  [email protected].