WASHINGTON, DC – This week, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a directive ordering senior military officials to submit plans to slash defense spending by 8 percent annually, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that Hegseth’s arbitrary cuts coupled with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) potential firings of Defense Department personnel could make America less safe and dramatically reduce military readiness.

Reed stated: “These types of hasty, indiscriminate budget cuts would betray our military forces and their families and make America less safe. I’m all for cutting programs that don’t work, but this proposal is deeply misguided. Secretary Hegseth’s rushed, arbitrary strategy would have negative impacts on our security, economy, and industrial base.”

The bipartisan FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorized a Pentagon 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.

The move also comes less than a year after China raised its annual defense budget by 7.2 percent for 2024 and amidst constant and repeated warning from bipartisan Congressional leaders that the world is more dangerous today and letting America’s national defense atrophy would weaken the nation and invite aggression instead of deterring conflict.