Ranking Member McCollum Statement on President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request

SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Congresswoman Betty McCollum, Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following statement on President Trump's Fiscal Year 2027 budget request outline, which was delivered to Congress over two months late:

"Since taking office, President Trump and Congressional Republicans have created a cost-of-living crisis for the American people. President Trump's illegal tariffs have raised prices for consumers. Their Big Ugly billionaire tax cut and spending law has taken away health care and food assistance away from millions of Americans to give permanent tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. Fuel prices are skyrocketing as a result of his dangerous and unlawful war in Iran. It is not a surprise that President Trump's Fiscal Year 2027 budget utterly fails to address the needs of the public he serves.

"The President's request for $1.15 trillion in defense spending is outrageous and unacceptable, especially when President Trump and Congressional Republicans intend to make further cuts to critical services that Americans rely on at home. Our nation cannot be secure without investments in our country's critical health care, education, nutrition, and infrastructure.

"As the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, I will always work to provide our service members with the resources they need to perform their missions and come home safe. But I refuse to provide a blank check to the Pentagon.

"The Pentagon does not have a funding problem. It has a problem with efficiently spending the funding that Congress has provided them - and accounting for it. That includes the recent $150 billion in defense spending included in Republicans' Big Ugly Law, the vast majority of which has not been spent by the administration. The White House will reportedly ask Republicans for another $350 billion in defense spending through a second reconciliation bill this year - all while the Pentagon has failed for years to pass an audit.

"President Trump ran on a promise to bring inflation under control and keep America out of wars overseas. Again and again, he has broken his word to the American people and is now asking them to pay for the costs of his disastrous mistakes. President Trump and Congressional Republicans are dangerously out of touch with Americans. We simply cannot afford their agenda."

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