Congress is on the verge of passing the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), green-lighting a disastrous $1 trillion war budget - a bonanza for weapons and prison contractors – and the highest military budget since World War II.

The NDAA culminates a year of hyper-militarized spending. While the MAGA regime boosted investment in the war machine to historic highs, it simultaneously made devastating cuts to social services that, without further action, will negatively affect American lives for decades to come.

As the first year of Trump’s second term comes to a close, here are ten examples of MAGA’s excessive, wasteful, inhumane, and unstrategic militarized spending in 2025. (Please note: some spending within the categories listed below may overlap).  

1. $326 billion for a historic increase for the Pentagon and an anti-immigrant paramilitary force over the next decade through MAGA’s Bill Ugly Bill. The MAGA-led reconciliation bill passed this summer contained a $156 billion increase for the Pentagon and $170 billion more for Trump’s mass deportation agenda. 

This funding includes a $24 billion down payment for Trump’s dangerous Golden Dome fantasy and helps turn ICE into the equivalent of the 13th largest military in the world - all paid for by cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and other essential services. We found that preserving funding for healthcare and food aid for millions of Americans would have been as simple as canceling the Pentagon and mass deportation increases. 

2. $6 billion boost to the Pentagon while slashing other domestic priorities by $13 billion in the FY 2025 budget. Instead of cutting down on wasteful military spending, like closing unnecessary military bases, Congress handed more taxpayer money to the Pentagon, the only federal agency to never pass an audit. 

3. $3.8 billion in new military aid for Israel during an ongoing genocide, a continuation of the Biden Administration’s illegal and inhumane policy. Since October 2023, the U.S. government has spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel, according to Costs of War. This figure does not include billions in new arms sales agreements of the cost of U.S. military operations in the region in support of Israel. 

4. $2 billion from the military budget for Trump’s unpopular and devastating immigration enforcement policies, a clear example of how the Trump Administration is militarizing our immigration system. On top of the billions in dedicated funding for Trump’s mass deportation agenda, the MAGA administration is using military funds to send troops to the southern border, to occupy U.S. cities, detain immigrants at military bases, and use military flights for deportations. 

5. $473 million for the National Guard occupations of U.S. cities to intimidate and attack communities. National Guard troops are being forced to support ICE’s attacks on immigrant communities (and in fact, on communities of color, period), and have helped criminalize unhoused people. We found that the daily cost of the National Guard occupation in Washington, DC in August would have been enough to operate public housing for all of the city’s unhoused people.  

6. $45 million for an absurd military parade on the President’s birthday that created excess carbon emissions equivalent to the production of 67 million plastic bags. 

7. $6 million to fly Pentagon leaders from around the globe to D.C. so that Pete Hegseth and Trump could announce that diversity is not a welcome concept in the military.

8. Millions spent on the unhinged attack on Iran, which escalated the grave risk of another U.S. war of choice in the Middle East and prompted international condemnation. 

9. Millions more spent on the murders off the coast of Venezuela that have killed dozens of unidentified people with no due process in violation of international law, with no security benefits for Americans.

10. An unknown, but nonetheless unnecessary amount spent on  unofficially change the Pentagon’s name to “Department of War.” They’ve already changed the website and signage at the Pentagon. An official name change could potentially cost $2 billion if Congress approves the change – more than four times the Corporation for Public Broadcasting budget that the MAGA regime slashed to zero.

The impact of militarized spending goes far beyond just the financial costs – the war machine commits lawless killing sprees and fuels the deadly climate crisis that immiserates people around the world. And it is ineffective at addressing the true sources of insecurity at home. 

A trillion dollar investment in public goods instead of militarization could transform our communities. You can look up what services could be funded in your city, state, and congressional district instead of endless militarization using the National Priorities Project trade-off calculator. 

Although this was a challenging year, our movements are fighting back, public opinion is shifting in important ways, and progressive issues are winning at the polls. We must continue the work of building power to effectively confront militarism and authoritarianism to take our tax dollars back in 2026, and beyond.