{
  "id": 11179590,
  "title": "Think Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Pentagon Request Is Outrageous? This’ll Blow Your Mind.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/think-trumps-1-5-trillion-pentagon-request-is-outrageous-thisll-blow",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-01T11:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mother Jones",
    "slug": "mother-jones",
    "url": "https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/10/donald-trump-pete-hegseth-pentagon-budget-request-trillion-department-war-true-cost-military-spending/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In late April 2025, President Donald Trump proposed a staggering $1.5 trillion budget for the Pentagon, requesting Congress to approve the unprecedented funding. This request came four weeks after Trump claimed the Iran War would be over in just four to five weeks, and amid declining approval ratings. The proposed budget, which is nearly $500 billion higher than the 2025 fiscal year spending of $1.1 trillion, aims to increase military expenditures by nearly 50 percent.\n\nDespite the criticism, a recent study estimates that the actual military spending in fiscal 2025 was at least $1.5 trillion, with the potential to reach even higher. In fact, the true scale of the military budget may be even larger than the $1.6 trillion figure proposed by Trump. This includes hidden costs that are not reported, such as the $100 billion paid by the Treasury Department for supporting retired military personnel and the $7.3 billion allocated by the State Department for global health programs, which are controlled by the Pentagon.\n\nThe Pentagon's obfuscation of military spending through bureaucratic processes and budgeting tricks has been a longstanding issue, with Air Force veteran and military budget analyst Christian Sorensen stating that the size of the revealed figures will incite public outrage. According to Heidi Peltier, an economist and budget expert with Brown University's Costs of War Project, the true scale of the military budget is likely 50 percent to 130 percent higher than what is usually reported.\n\nThe Pentagon's accounting practices have led to the reclassification of funds from other agencies into the military budget, causing the total spending to exceed the sum of what other agencies receive for nonmilitary purposes. This phenomenon is not a singular plan, but rather the result of a complex web of bureaucratic practices. The report highlights how military expenditures are spread across various federal departments, further inflating the overall military budget.",
  "summary": "On April 3, four weeks after Donald Trump claimed the Iran War would be over in four to five weeks, and with his approval ratings in reputable polls dipping below 40 percent, the president made a wildly audacious ask: Congress, he said, should approve a Pentagon budget of $1.5 trillion. Such a number was unheard […]",
  "key_points": [
    "President Trump proposes $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget in April 2025.",
    "Actual military spending in 2025 likely exceeds $1.5 trillion.",
    "Pentagon's accounting practices inflate total spending significantly."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}