Democrats have repeatedly ripped the administration's proposal to increase spending on the military at the expense of domestic programs, setting up a key dispute in negotiations over how to fund the government past the end of September.
Some House Republicans pushed back on President Donald Trump's request to supercharge the military's annual budget at a meeting with Pentagon officials, spelling trouble for a cornerstone of his fiscal policy.
Trump's most recent budget request called for $1.5 trillion in base funding for the Pentagon. The Office of Management and Budget called for most of that funding to be enacted in bipartisan appropriations legislation while moving another $350 billion with just Republican votes through the budget reconciliation process.
But Pentagon officials were met with some skepticism when they huddled with Republicans on the House Budget Committee, who would be critical to the success of any partisan funding bill.
"They got to sharpen their pencil," said Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), a member of the budget panel who met with the Pentagon. "I don't think they get the financial crisis we're in. They think it's just going to be another year. No, pal. We're broke."
The administration's ask is "a heavy lift," another Republican who attended the briefing said. They added that members are asking for any increase to the Pentagon's budget to be offset in other parts of the budget request. The White House has already proposed a 10% cut to domestic agencies alongside the plus-up to defense spending.
The Defense Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
Other Republicans have argued that investments in the military are necessary to combat current and future threats, such as the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran, and affordable given curbs to government spending since Trump returned to office.
"We choose to defend our country's interests and protect our homeland and the American people from serious and imminent threats," House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said in introducing OMB Director Russ Vought's testimony on the budget request at a Wednesday hearing.
The federal deficit clocked in at $1.2 trillion in the first half of the fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office estimated last week. That's a slower pace of borrowing than last year, largely driven by tariff collections.
Democrats have repeatedly ripped the administration's proposal to increase spending on the military at the expense of domestic programs, setting up a key dispute in negotiations over how to fund the government past the end of September.
"We have never in the history of this country seen spending like this paid for by slashing health care, education and housing," Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) told Vought at the hearing Wednesday. "How is it that we can continue to spend money on foreign wars and yet we cannot find a solution to the fact that people can't afford health care?"