President Donald Trump on Thursday urged Senate Republicans to move immediately on a $350 billion reconciliation bill to fund the military, pressing lawmakers to act before Democrats take control of Congress in January.
"TODAY I am calling on Senate Leadership to IMMEDIATELY move on the 350 Billion Dollar Reconciliation Bill to give our brave Warriors the DECISIVE ADVANTAGE they deserve. Our Military must be strong, powerful, and respected," Trump wrote in the post, published at 12:24 p.m. ET.
The proposed $350 billion spending increase is part of the administration's broader $1.5 trillion defense budget request, which includes major investments in weapons production, military technology and the domestic defense industrial base.
Trump has dubbed the package "Recon 3.0" and, in an earlier post this week, said it should be paired with the SAVE America Act, a nationwide voter-identification measure that has passed the House but remains stalled in the Senate.
The push follows War Secretary Pete Hegseth's call two days earlier for Congress to approve at least $350 billion in additional defense funding, which he described as essential to rebuilding military readiness. Hegseth has been working with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson to secure the funding, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker supports moving forward.
Republicans are considering using budget reconciliation, which would allow the measure to pass the Senate with a simple majority and bypass the usual 60-vote filibuster threshold. But some Republican lawmakers remain divided over additional Pentagon spending amid the continuing Iran war, which some in the party blame for the midterm losses.
The administration's case rests in part on depleted weapons stockpiles. The Congressional Research Service reported that munitions expenditure in Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. operation in the Iran war, resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply, saying the defense industrial base requires "significant lead time" to expand production capacities.
Democrats, who take control of Congress in January, have signalled they will reject the reconciliation approach, threatening funding for several of the administration's priorities and setting up a confrontation over the $1.5 trillion request and the administration's signature military projects.
