Record-smashing $1.5-trillion spending proposal will fund only the ‘most essential things’: comptroller

Virtually all of the giant reconciliation fund has been doled out, the Pentagon’s acting chief financial officer said Tuesday. 

“Everything except for $1.3 billion in the $153 billion that's been given to the Department of Defense by the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act has been apportioned and [has] been released to the services and program managers. And so that money is all starting to flow,” Jules Hurst, who is performing the duties of Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer, said at the McAleese annual defense programs conference in Arlington, Va.

As Hurst spoke, lawmakers are mulling a $50 billion supplemental to pay for U.S. strikes on Iran and Trump-administration officials were finishing its 2027 budget proposal.

Asked about reports that some offices hadn’t received reconciliation funds yet, he said, “It's all been released to the services of the program offices. Sometimes it takes time for money to trickle down.”

Hurst declined to preview any details on the upcoming White House budget request, which will reportedly ask for $1.5 trillion in defense spending—half again as much as the current year’s record budget. 

But he did say the entity known as DOGE, was still “alive and well” in the Pentagon. 

“They've been a great partner for comptroller, in particular, as we just try to figure out where we have fat,” Hurst said. “We have robust [operations and maintenance] accounts in the FY27 budget, but they're focused on readiness. And so wherever we could, we looked through accounts and services inside the department and we tried to get rid of things that are no longer really necessary…and DOGE is very helpful for that.”

When asked if the Pentagon could feasibly spend $1.5 trillion in one year, Hurst said yes and that a lot of things were left out to keep the number down. 

“We had to cut down significantly to get to [$1.5 trillion]. We had more ideas and more concepts on how to spend the money, and then we had to deal with. And so we took a long time to trim that down to the most essential things,” he said. 

Hurst declined to provide specifics on how the budget would be broken down but said the proportions would mimic the Reagan administration, including “a massive investment in procurement and research development.”