As Hegseth Calls for $50B in Cuts, GOP Pursues Major Long-Term Increase 'to Deter Our Enemies'

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is telling officials to come up with a plan to redirect 8 percent of the Defense budget for next year – about $50 billion to be refocused on President Trump's priorities. Hegseth is also reportedly set to remove some top generals and senior officials as well.

This comes as DOGE staffers have been at the Pentagon this week, combing through lists of probationary workers. About 878,000 civilians work at the Defense Department, with 60,000 of them probationary. Civilian Defense contractors could also be on the chopping block. DOGE posted a list of more than 1,000 contracts it claims to have terminated.

While the White House is looking to cut fat at the Pentagon, Republicans in Congress are seeking to increase Defense spending over the next decade. GOP lawmakers agree the military should target wasteful spending, but they also believe America isn't spending enough on national defense, citing the importance of using strength to deter enemies amid growing global threats.

"We need to make that investment as a country because the name of the game is keeping peace. The name of the game is avoiding war and having our allies and our friends out there also avoid war, but we do that by being strong, and we do that by investing in defense," Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (R-VA) told CBN News.

U.S. Defense spending is currently at the lowest level since before World War II.

"This is not enough to deter our enemies. Just look at the consequences of underfunded and un-credible American deterrence over the last four years. The Taliban retook Afghanistan, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Iran, and its proxies perpetrated the worst attack on Israel since the Holocaust," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) during a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing.

Rogers believes Defense spending needs to be at five to six percent of the country's gross domestic product, a number retired Army Gen. Jack Keane supports while adding that more money must be accompanied by reform.

"We have to fix our business practices in the Pentagon and we have to hold the Pentagon responsible and accountable for that, and we certainly have to fix how we do business with the defense industrial base, and also with our own organic industrial base. And I think the Congress needs to take a tough look at itself, in terms of how it does business with the Pentagon," Gen Keene told lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Rep. Kiggans and Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Democrat, re-launched the bipartisan Congressional Military Family Caucus, focusing on the home front, as part of the overall defense effort.

"We did a lot of good work last Congress...we had 31 amendments that came out of the House, 29 of them passed out of the Senate, to the tune of about $5 billion. But Congress really listened, and we put our money where our mouth is, and we're working on improvements...The Family Caucus, that we are now starting up for this Congress, is important to me because it will allow for a vehicle to follow up," Rep. Kiggans said.

With Republicans holding slim majorities on Capitol Hill, House members hope to push through a new budget resolution which would include $100 billion in additional Defense funding. Senate leaders, meanwhile, are calling for a $150 billion increase.

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