Duckworth Slams SecDef Hegseth’s Order to Cut Defense Budget by Eight Percent for the Next Five Years

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee—issued the following statement after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the military to reduce the defense budget by 8% for the next five years, jeopardizing our servicemembers, our national security and military readiness:

“Abrupt far-reaching cuts to our defense budget won’t make Americans, our servicemembers and their families safer. I’m all for trimming waste and making our government more efficient, but the most unqualified, unprepared Secretary of Defense in history ramming through cuts to a budget that funds all our military training, defense technology and servicemembers’ salaries will hurt our national security, our military readiness and our economy by causing damage to our Armed Services that could take years to reverse.”

Duckworth voted in support of the bipartisan FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which authorized a defense budget of roughly $850 billion. If the Trump Administration implements an annual 8 percent cut over the next five years, it could mean approximately $300 billion less in military spending through fiscal year 2030.

If Secretary Hegseth’s dramatic 8 percent cut to the annual defense budget is enforced, it would also mean the U.S. would fall short of President Trump’s call for all NATO countries to spend at least 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. In order for the U.S. to meet that level of defense spending, it would have to allocate about $1 trillion annually on the U.S. military budget.

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