Space Force Budget Faces Uncertainty as White House Bets on Supplemental Money from Congress

Yahoo

3 days ago

Newly released documents from President Donald Trump's proposed 2026 budget show the White House has requested less money for the Space Force, a move which experts say doesn't match up with his rhetoric about the service and its national security importance.
An appendix for budget documents released last week shows a total of around $26.3 billion requested for the Space Force in fiscal 2026 for personnel, procurement, operations and maintenance, as well as research and development. It's a notably lower figure than the $29.4 billion the service requested in fiscal 2025 -- which was already lowered from the previous year.
The detailed budget documents show the White House requesting nearly $1.5 billion for personnel; nearly $6 billion for operations and maintenance; a little more than $3 billion for procurement; and nearly $15.5 billion for research, testing and development. Specifics on what programs and technology those funds would be used for were not included in the White House's latest budget documents.
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White House officials told Military.com that additional funding currently being weighed and debated by Congress amounts, ultimately, to an increase for the service.
However, defense budget experts and Space Force advocates told Military.com the proposed decrease in discretionary funding outlined in the budget plan released last week is at odds with what Trump and his administration have said about the importance of keeping America competitive with adversaries in space.
"I would be highly skeptical of what the administration is saying publicly," American Enterprise Institute fellow Todd Harrison, speculating on what the Space Force should take away from the budget documents, told Military.com. "I would worry that they are not willing to follow up on their rhetoric and are going to leave the Space Force hanging."
A White House official, who spoke to Military.com on condition of anonymity to relay information from the Office of Management and Budget, defended the discretionary funding decrease, saying that with roughly $13.8 billion in related mandatory funding being debated in Congress in what's called a reconciliation bill -- named One Big Beautiful Bill and meant to enact Trump's agenda -- it "is not a decrease at all, it's nearly a 40% increase!"
The reconciliation bill marks $7.2 billion "for the development, procurement and integration of military space-based sensors" for the so-called Golden Dome -- a proposed missile shield for the U.S. -- which the official said is part of that increase. It was not clear where the remaining $6.6 billion in existing programs was accounted for in the $13.8 billion figure provided.
Spokespeople for the Department of the Air Force declined to comment on the White House's budget documents.
Speaking at Joint Base Andrews in March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated the need for the administration to focus on being prepared for conflicts in space.
"I feel like there's no way to ignore the fact that the next and the most important domain of warfare will be the space domain," Hegseth said, according to a Space Force news release. "So, you're going to see far more investment from this administration into that domain, both offensively and defensively ... because that's where we can continue to maintain an advantage."
Trump has proudly touted his support for the Space Force since it was created during his first term by legislation he signed into law in late 2019. Last month, while announcing that a Space Force general would oversee the creation of Golden Dome, the president said the service "has turned out to be a tremendous success" and added "we're No. 1 in space by a lot."
Major funding for Golden Dome and other military projects was included in Congress' reconciliation bill, which is still working its way through the Senate. In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration has included part of its proposed $1 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2026.
Without that supplemental congressional funding -- which has not yet been approved -- defense spending will stay the same as last year at nearly $893 billion.
Retired Air Force Col. Bill Woolf, the president and founder of the nonprofit Space Force Association, told Military.com that the decrease in the top-line numbers, without the supplemental funding, is disappointing.
"The campaign strategy that was used by this administration doesn't match the budget proposal," Woolf told Military.com. "It is interesting that we're seeing a decrease in funding for a critical service at a time when we need it more than ever."
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