Defense spending would surge to its highest level in decades under a budget proposal put forward by the Trump administration on Friday, while other government programs would face cuts totaling 10%. Under the proposal for the 2027 fiscal year beginning on 1 October, defense spending would rise by 42% to $1.5tn, $445bn higher than its level in 2026. The proposal would affect only the third of the federal budget covering discretionary spending on the government’s vast array of services and programs. Trump tasked Elon Musk with dramatically lowering federal spending through the so-called “department of government efficiency” but the initiative appears to have failed. In the fiscal year that concluded at the end of last September, federal spending rose by about 4%, or $301bn.

Source: The Guardian April 04, 2026 08:24 UTC