Trump asks for eye-popping number to fund Pentagon as he rips through $1 billion per DAY on Iran war

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT Published: 16:48, 3 April 2026 | Updated: 16:55, 3 April 2026 President Donald Trump is asking for an eye-popping $1.5 trillion to fund the Pentagon in the budget proposal the White House released Friday.  With the war with Iran ongoing, Trump has pushed that more money is needing to fund the US military and less on social programs. 'We're fighting wars, we can't take care of daycare,' he muttered at Wednesday's Easter lunch, which was closed to press, but video was accidentally posted online.  The Iran war is likely costing American taxpayers more than $1 billion a day, with Pentagon officials telling lawmakers in mid-March that the first six days of the conflict cost more than $11.3 billion.  Every year, the President releases his own budget, but it's up to Congress to put those priorities into action.  For the next fiscal year, the White House asked for the Pentagon to receive $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending - amounting to a 28 percent increase - and another $350 billion in mandatory spending - which overall amounts to a 40 percent hike over fiscal year 2026.  At the same time, the President is calling for 10 percent of the budget to be slashed on non-defense programs.  He's excused some of those cuts by arguing they don't line up with his administration's priorities.  President Donald Trump speaks in the Cross Hall Wednesday night about the war in Iran. On Friday, the White House released its dream budget, which includes $1.5 trillion in funding for the Pentagon  In the rollout of the budget, the White House included fact sheets entitled 'Cuts to Woke Programs' and 'Ending the Green New Scam.'  Many of the programs on the chopping block focus on minority communities, which the White House argues have been 'weaponized' or are too closely aligned with 'Black Lives Matter.'  The budget proposal asks Congress to cancel $15 billion in clean energy dollars that were part of President Joe Biden's 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  It also asks lawmakers to defund refugee resettlement aid programs, instead focusing funds on removing immigrants from the United States. It asks Congress to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement funds at the same level so ICE can continue opening detention centers, with the aim of having 100,000 beds for adults and 30,000 for families.  The government is currently in a partial shutdown over the parties' disagreements over ICE, with Democrats refusing to agree to funding the Department of Homeland Security unless changes are made to immigration enforcement after two Americans were killed by border agents in Minneapolis. On Thursday, Trump announced he would sign an executive order to have all DHS employees paid, after previously ensuring that Transportation Security Administration workers would get their paychecks amid airport chaos.  Republicans worked out a deal to end the shutdown earlier this week, but both houses of Congress remain on recess for another week.  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addresses troops in the Middle East amid the war in Iran. President Donald Trump's proposed budget boosts military spending by a whopping 40 percent for the next fiscal year  Trump's budget also called for a 13 percent increase in the Department of Justice.  On Thursday, Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, making her the second Cabinet member out of a job in just under a month.  The DOJ funding boost would be focused on prosecuting violent criminals.  The Trump budget also asked for a $10 billion fund housed by the National Park Service, to beautify Washington, D.C.  Trump also asked for $605 million to keep the National Guard deployed in the nation's capital.  The budget is prepared by Trump's Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who the President likes to refer to as 'Darth Vader,' due to his ruthless role in dismantling government programs. During the Wednesday Easter lunch, Trump looked around the East Room for his Star Wars villain.  'And Darth Vader, where's Darth Vader? Russ Vought. Hi Darth, hi Darth Vader,' the President said.   The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.