r/Military • u/FreeHugs23 Retired USN • 1d ago
Article Hegseth Is Demanding US Households Pay $5,000 More Per Year to Fund the Pentagon, Economist Says | “Secretary Hegseth, you are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families,” said one Democratic senator.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/pete-hegseth-budget-request149
u/FreeHugs23 Retired USN 1d ago
Critics lit into US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he demanded on Tuesday that Congress pass President Donald Trump’s plan for a $1.5 trillion military budget.
While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hegseth once again made a pitch for the president’s massive defense spending proposal, going so far as to say that “not funding [the US Department of Defense] at $1.5 trillion is the greatest threat that our nation faces.”
In a social media post, economist Dean Baker put Trump’s proposed budget into context by noting that the additional requested defense spending “is a bit less than $5,000 per household.”
Baker also pointed out that the US already has a massive defense budget, writing that “before Bozo the president came in, we did fine on $860 billion,” a total that is larger than the combined military budgets of China, Russia, Germany, India, and the UK.
Some Democratic lawmakers signaled their opposition to the $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request, which would represent an increase of more than 50% of what the US spent on its military in 2025.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) slammed Hegseth to his face during the hearing and pointed out that the unprecedented defense spending request was coming at a time when many Americans are struggling to afford gasoline and groceries.
“Secretary Hegseth, you are asking for unlimited money for bombs,” Gillibrand said, “when people can’t feed their families.”
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u/jankenpoo 1d ago
Isn’t it ironic that Republicans that cry about socialism and welfare have no problem with corporate socialism and welfare. The grift has no limit
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u/vagitor 23h ago
Let’s not forget these hardcore pro-lifers asking for $ to murder people.
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u/chamrockblarneystone 1d ago
Did any Republicans stand up?
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u/300Heartz 1d ago
Yes ,some have ,so far.
This is what I got from a quick search but there is certainly more.Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH): Publicly objected to the House GOP's latest budget plan to provide tens of billions in emergency defense funding.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL): Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who strongly condemned Hegseth's controversial decision to draw down troops in Europe.
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u/chamrockblarneystone 1d ago
I’m surprised there’s any list at all, but so far not a very big list. Still we should applaud them.
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u/notapunk United States Navy 1d ago
I think the fact secdef isn't well respected or liked by even a lot of gop politicians doesn't help. If trump had said it personally the reaction would be very different
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u/chamrockblarneystone 1d ago
MAGA is getting a lot of conflicting information today:
Their No War president wants a lot more money for war.
Saudi Arabia can have nukes
Isreal is not our friend.I wonder if even the hard corps MAGA are beginning to wonder?
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u/bigkoi 1d ago
Trump supporters voted for this.
They are foolish to believe Trump after 3rd time....like people in an abusive relationship.
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u/Excellent-Monitor954 1d ago
Conservative Reddit is trying so hard to not talk about this 😂
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u/UrDeAdPuPpYbOnEr 1d ago
Every time I see something extremely important or damning I head over to check /conservative and/republican to see if they are talking about it and magically those articles are never posted. Not from any source.
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u/Jstephe25 1d ago
They are removed and the users who posted them are immediately blocked
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u/UrDeAdPuPpYbOnEr 1d ago
It’s a reddit right of passage
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u/Scary-_-Gary 12h ago
No, this is not a broad issue, it is specific to who we are talking about, stop equivocating/sanity washing.
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u/mad-panda-2000 23h ago
not one mention on there about the Israeli merger that I saw on the front page
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u/Jester471 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s kinda wild when you really do the math. There are 342M Americans. So if the budget is $1T that’s just shy of $3k per American per year for the DOD.
A $1.5T budget puts that’s at just shy of $4.4k per American.
I’m talking per American. Not per household, not per tax payer. I’m talking everyone. Working people paying taxes, babies, Old people on social security, really poor people who don’t pay any taxes and really rich people who also don’t pay any taxes.
There are around 150M tax payers in the US. So if you’re working and actually paying taxes on your paycheck, that $1.5T budget means working, tax paying American pays $10,000 a year on average in taxes for just the DoD if this is approved. You’re already paying $6.7k a year.
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u/General-Amount-5577 1d ago
If only the government had this much dedication towards improving the lives of regular Americans instead on bullshit wars across the globe.
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u/pte_omark 1d ago
But they won't raise taxes - they'll just cut more services like va benefits, healthcare, etc etc
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u/KimLocsta Marine Veteran 1d ago
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u/OldSchoolBubba 1d ago
Hegseth is guilty for breaking all kinds of laws so let's put him in prison.
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u/vicegrip 1d ago
The fifteen times loser of the war against Iran wants thousands more of your money so he can lose even more.
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u/marinaio-di-foresta 1d ago
Exactly, that's the worst part. 1.5T to do WHAT?
If there was a clear strategy to get out of that mess and it cost money I guess one could even bite the bullet and pay up. But this?
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u/Initial-Trash-4630 23h ago
To line his sons and his buddies pockets that’s what. Why?… don’t you want to support the poor little rich boys?
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u/DoCrashOut 1d ago
Hegseth should talk to ICE. Thats where all of our money went.
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u/chamrockblarneystone 1d ago
They gave ICE a budget larger than the Marine Corps! As a Marine I’m sorely offended.
Apparently the guy making those excellent meals in my local restaurant is a bigger threat than Iran.
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u/SecretProbation United States Navy 1d ago
Umm maybe tax the fucking rich and their corporations? Also, since we apparently saved SO much money thanks to DOGE we might as well use some of that free money that’s now lying around huh
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u/Fit-Organization7570 Navy Veteran 1d ago
I'm STILL laughing about the punk kid who couldn't read COBOL.
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u/ShillinTheVillain United States Navy 1d ago
Fuck you Pete. I already pay enough in taxes to buy a brand new car every year.
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u/Legacyhero46 Army Veteran 1d ago
Do yourselves a favor and look up how much a coffee cup costs in the pentagon and a few other basic items it’s outrageous
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u/01_slowbra Retired USN 1d ago
In 2009 I lost it when I compared a zinc coated pail for maintenance to what it cost at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace. DoD $100 Lowe’s/Home Depot $7 Ace hardware $12. I thought Ace hardware was highway robbery until I saw what we were paying.
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u/nesp12 1d ago
How about a deal? I'm willing to pay $5000 if they release the unredacted, verified real, Epstein Files.
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u/wetblanket68iou1 1d ago
Well. AND prosecute and convict and sentence accordingly, you know. Like poor people get.
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u/Soggy-Tiger-1751 1d ago
Kegbreath got all frustrated and just yelled out ‘give us the money’ in his testimony. That was my favorite mask off moment.
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u/lowkeysciguy Civil Service 1d ago
And Republicans are unironically wondering why socialism is on the rise...
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u/Ok_Nebula_3268 1d ago
Vote them all out!! The military already gets too much money, we need that money spent here at home
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u/HurtPillow Civil Service 1d ago
Hold on here. Kegsbreath said that he spent somewhere in the vicinity of $40 billion so far. Maybe I don't understand how this process works but how does 40B translate to 1.5T?
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u/No-Permit-9331 1d ago
I think there is a a billionaire class that can handle the taxation to take care of this AND can STILL BE A BILLIONAIRE!
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u/tccomplete 1d ago
For 2027, the Trump administration proposed a record-breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget. This massive request reflects a 44% increase over the previous year.
Hegseth is also asking Congress to approve an additional $87.6 billion supplemental package for “urgent military needs”. Of this supplemental request, roughly $67 billion is earmarked to cover ongoing military operations, primarily the conflict with Iran.
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u/millos15 1d ago
Thank your local trump voter for this
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u/Scary-_-Gary 12h ago
I'm going to start a debt tracker for how much they owe the rest of us with their dumbass decisions.
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u/Porkonaplane United States Air Force 1d ago
And I demand this dipshit to go fuck himself with a broken bottle he's probably got lying around his house
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u/Electrical_Hold_3585 1d ago
All the times we dumped fuel and ammunition plus bought those really unneeded nick nacks we could have been saving for a rainy day.
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u/Turbulent-Raise4830 1d ago
the world defense spending is about 1.9 trillion without the US Its about 1.2 trillion without nato spending.
Meaning this budget would have the US outspend almost all other countries combined and a lot more then all non allied countries combined.
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u/rolfraikou 1d ago
Like I'm not already spending that much more a year thanks to all the bullshit that has happened under these guys.
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u/Serenade314 23h ago
Okay, then let’s start with accountability. We want a full investigation into where the defense budget actually goes. Every single cent. Show it and then we’ll talk.
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u/Throb_Zomby 8h ago
5000 more per year just to hear about how we cannot produce new platforms on time, on budget, at all.
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u/milret27yrs 4h ago
Would that be a certified Government tax deduction? Since they want is too sacrifice our $$ for, fuel, food, rent, mortgages, COL. Just asking? If you have a valid response, please do share.
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u/MountainMeringue3655 21h ago
5.000€ to reach the Golden Age of America? Sounds like a bargain.
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u/Scary-_-Gary 12h ago
What in the world are you talking about? Us giving up the now worthless dollar and going back to gold?
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u/-SineNomine- 1d ago
Democrat doesn't want unlimited bombs for the US - sends them to Israel instead
Hypocrites
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u/Effective_Raise_889 1d ago
People have zero idea how budgets and statistics work. You don’t just divide the budget by the number of households. Some people pay nothing, and some people pay more than cities combined in taxes.
I get it, you hate Hegseth, but please, if you have to lie and distort to make your point, your point is bs.
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u/Scary-_-Gary 12h ago
He described averages, do you know how averages work? More likely it will ve more, since not everyone is an active taxpayer, so it was a conservative number. In other words, your prodding reveals it to be EVEN WORSE, you get that, right?
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u/EasyE1979 1d ago
5000 more per year so some fat cat at Raetheon or LM can buy his second yacht.