The Congressional Budget Office projects the U.S. government will run a $1.9 trillion deficit this year and next, with the gap widening to $2.1 trillion in 2028, as the Trump administration pursues a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget and emergency war funding, according to figures cited by The Wall Street Journal.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has largely avoided Congress for much of his tenure, is now urgently meeting with Republican lawmakers to secure $350 billion for the military through budget reconciliation, the Journal reported. Hegseth wants the money as part of the administration’s unprecedented $1.5 trillion Pentagon request, plus an additional $67 billion related to the Iran war and other urgent military needs, the Journal said.
The CBO projections show the deficit — the gap between federal spending and tax revenue — continuing to grow despite promises by President Donald Trump to reduce it. The Journal noted that it is politically easier to spend money and cut taxes than to cut spending or raise taxes, and that unanticipated events — the COVID-19 pandemic, a financial crisis, earthquakes — have repeatedly driven Washington to respond with new spending.
The White House is also seeking emergency funds for Venezuela after deadly earthquakes there, the Journal reported, adding to the upward pressure on deficits. The growing debt has become a central fiscal issue as the government borrows money to cover the difference between spending and revenue.
Hegseth’s push for a partisan budget pathway through reconciliation comes as he struggles to secure Republican support for the military budget. The narrow 53-47 Republican Senate majority and growing unease among lawmakers over the Iran war and Pentagon policy decisions have complicated the effort, the Journal reported. The defense secretary had largely snubbed Congress for months but now needs lawmakers’ cooperation to pass the budget using the expedited reconciliation process.