Everything You Need to Know About Trump's 2019 Budget Request

Military.com 12 Feb 2018 By Brendan McGarry

President Donald Trump on Monday released his budget request for fiscal 2019, marking the first step in a months-long process in which lawmakers from both chambers of Congress debate and ultimately decide on its funding levels and policy provisions.

Trump's defense budget request for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 totals $716 billion, including $686 billion for the Defense Department alone. The Pentagon's top line includes a base budget of $597.1 billion and an overseas contingency operations (OCO), or war, budget of $89 billion. It represents a nearly 12 percent increase over the current year's level of nearly $612 billion.

But defense spending as a share of the economy would remain relatively flat at roughly 3.1 percent, according to Pentagon budget documents, and the spending bump would be financed in part by deficit spending.