President Donald Trump spent the first several months of his second term slashing what he characterized as wasteful and fraudulent federal spending, gutting entire agencies and terminating numerous programs. His latest monetary move, however, is centered on a massive increase in the Department of War’s (DOW’s) budget.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 (FY2027), suggesting a 10% budget cut for “non-defense” agencies and a nearly 50% increase for the DOW. All told, the proposed FY2027 budget would allocate $1.5 trillion to the DOW, an increase of $441 billion (44%) over the department’s FY2026 budget. The only other departments and agencies that would see an increase in budget in FY2027 would be Veterans Affairs (+$11.5 billion), Department of Justice (+$4.7 billion), Department of Transportation (+$1.6 billion), and Department of Energy (+$900 million).

Other departments would see significant budget decreases compared to FY2026: State Department (-$15.5 billion), Department of Health and Human Services (-$15.4 billion), Department of Housing and Urban Development (-$10.7 billion), Department of Agriculture (-$4.9 billion), Department of Labor (-$3.4 billion), Department of the Interior (-$2.3 billion), Department of Education (-$2.3 billion). Even the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a crucial component of the president’s central immigration agenda, would lose over $2 billion in its FY2027 budget.

According to OMB, the massive DOW budget would largely be invested in the president’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system, a 5 to 7% pay raise for military troops, space security, shipbuilding, “critical munitions” and “nuclear enterprise,” a Combat and Operational Medicine Program, drones, artificial intelligence (A.I.), and the development, production, and deploy of a new fighter jet: the Boeing F-47.

The increased budget “advances President Trump’s delivery of peace through strength by reinvesting in the foundations of America’s military power — from defense industrial capacity to the readiness and health of the force — and ensuring the United States maintains the world’s most powerful and capable military,” the budget proposal states. “By continuing to provide the resources necessary to rebuild America’s military, the Budget re-establishes deterrence, revives the warrior ethos of America’s Armed Forces, and prioritizes investments against the most acute national security threats.”

The $1.5 trillion DOW ask comes in the midst of the ongoing war with Iran, which began over five weeks ago. In a fact sheet, the White House acknowledged that the spending increase “exceeds even the Reagan buildup by approaching the historic increases just prior to World War II, a level that recognizes the current global threat environment and restores the readiness and lethality of our forces.”

At a private Easter lunch seemingly-accidentally livestreamed to the public and afterward deleted by the White House, the president told attendees that some domestic programs will have to be cut to provide for the DOW. “Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care. That has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of day care. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people,” he said to OBM Director Russell Vought. “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care. You got to let a state take care of day care, and they should pay for it too,” he added, suggesting that the federal government could make up for the state spending by lowering taxes. “It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. … They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country.”

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said afterwards that the president “was referring to rooting out the billions of dollars of fraud in these vital programs — and his record proves he will always protect and strengthen Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” noting that the Trump administration has eliminated taxes on social security for senior citizens and has moved to bar illegal immigrants from fraudulently obtaining social security, Medicaid, and Medicare payments. “The Trump economic agenda will continue to lower costs, making everyday life more affordable for hardworking American families.”