Trump pushes $1.5 trillion defense budget; Democrats call it "America Last"

[Financial News]

U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed a fiscal year 2027 defense budget of $1.5 trillion (about 2,260 trillion won), a 42% increase from the previous year. The plan makes deep cuts to domestic spending and pours money into defense.
The opposition Democratic Party has made clear its opposition, denouncing the plan as "America Last."

According to National Public Radio (NPR) and other foreign media on the 3rd (local time), Trump set the fiscal year 2027 defense budget at $1.5 trillion, the largest in decades. The 2027 fiscal year begins on October 1.
Amid criticism that he "fell for Israel’s prodding and launched an unnecessary war with Iran," Trump has opted for a massive increase in defense spending.
Trump is pushing a large-scale military buildup to replenish munitions for the war with Iran, now in its fifth week, and to respond to threats from China and Russia. The plan also aims to expand the defense industrial base.
He argued that because the US is "at war," the federal government cannot fully cover child care or health care.

While boosting defense spending by more than 40%, the proposal would cut non-defense spending by over $73 billion, or more than 10%.
Funding for child care, Medicaid for low-income Americans, and the Medicare program for seniors would all be reduced. Spending on clean energy would also be slashed, and climate-change grants at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would be cut.
Trump insisted that responsibility for welfare lies with state governments, and argued that states should raise the necessary funds themselves.

By contrast, the proposal increases funding for immigration enforcement and air traffic control.
Money that currently helps refugees resettle in the United States would be redirected to immigration enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and DHS-run detention facilities would be greatly expanded. The budget keeps funding for ICE at its already high level.
The budget also increases funding for the Department of Justice by 13%, concentrating the Justice Department’s resources on what the administration labels "immigrant crime."
In addition, the plan would create a $10 billion fund in the National Park Service (NPS) budget to advance a "construction and beautification" project in the capital, Washington, D.C.
It also allocates an additional $481 million to modernize aviation safety systems and address staffing shortages.

The Democratic Party leadership reacted sharply.
According to The Hill, Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, mocked Trump’s "America First" slogan by branding this proposal "America Last." He argued that while the administration pours money into defense and immigration crackdowns, welfare policies for Americans themselves are pushed to the back of the line.
Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said the plan is a budget that "begs for guns and bombs instead of investing in people’s lives" and predicted it would be "dead on arrival (DOA)" in Congress. In other words, he sees no chance of it passing.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington State, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, condemned it as "a morally bankrupt budget that belongs in the trash can."

dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter