Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the Pentagon would aggressively push for at least $350 billion in additional military spending when Congress returns after the midterm elections, warning the money is critical to President Donald Trump’s plans to overhaul the armed forces.
The remarks preview a renewed lobbying effort for a defense package that remains stalled amid Republican divisions over how to pay for it. The proposal would fund Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense shield, expanded munitions production and $50 billion for drones, which Hegseth called the Pentagon’s “No. 1 priority.”
“We’re in lockstep with the White House,” Hegseth said. “Regardless of what happens in the midterms, we’re running fast — immediately — with the committees, to ensure that that reconciliation bill, at a minimum of $350 [billion], potentially more, ultimately fills up what this department needs.”
Hegseth said Trump’s $1.5 trillion Pentagon spending request remained the administration’s goal, “come hell or high water.”
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Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027 would rely on roughly $1.15 trillion in regular appropriations and another $350 billion through a reconciliation bill that could pass the Senate with only Republican support. The administration has separately requested an additional $67 billion to cover costs associated with the Iran war.
The administration faces a narrow window to advance the legislation during Congress’s lame-duck session, particularly if Democrats win control of the House in November’s elections.
Hegseth appeared alongside civilian leaders of the military services at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference. The panel discussion on autonomous warfare marked an unusual gathering that Pentagon officials billed as a show of unity behind the administration’s plans to modernize the armed forces.
Hegseth has launched a succession of initiatives aimed at ramping up the development of autonomous weapons that include a Drone Dominance program and recently announced plans to establish a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command by October 2027, an initiative that would need congressional approval.
The Pentagon has been pushing to put prototype weapons directly into troops’ hands for testing and quick improvement, borrowing lessons from the Ukrainian military’s ability to adapt drones on the battlefield. But Hegseth cautioned that the U.S. could not simply adopt Ukrainian technology because of concerns about Chinese-made parts.
“You can’t use everything that’s in Ukraine because of all the Chinese components involved in it,” Hegseth said. “You’ve got to be able to ensure that we take the best of that and the lessons learned, which the Army’s done very well, and then push it through.”
Hegseth compared the scale of the Pentagon’s effort to the industrial mobilization of World War II, arguing the U.S. needs to rebuild its ability to make weapons quickly and in large numbers. He described it as “a generational leap ahead in technologies that nobody else on planet Earth can do.”
“That’s the urgency of this moment,” he said. “That’s what the president expects.”
The panel was interrupted six times by protesters shouting about the Iran war and civilian casualties in the Middle East before security guards removed them.
The Iran war’s unpopularity is just one of the headwinds confronting Hegseth, who’s faced criticism of his leadership and a bipartisan impeachment push in the House. A Democratic-controlled House next year could subject the defense secretary to more aggressive oversight and investigations and block parts of his agenda.
Hegseth closed with a pitch to the large gathering, warning that the Pentagon’s ambitious plans — including Pentagon deals to expand munitions production — hinge on lawmakers approving the additional money. Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg has led efforts to negotiate agreements with Lockheed Martin, RTX and other big defense firms to beef up weapons production.
“The deals the deputy is cutting, the drones that this will require, all of those investments are part of reconciliation, of that $350 [billion],” Hegseth said. “And if you’re a part of talking to the people who are making those decisions, the coming months will be critical.”
Rebuilding the U.S. military “to meet the threats of the future,” Hegseth said, “will depend on funding the president’s vision for $1.5 trillion.”
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