Generational Defense Investment Offers America an Opportunity

Often, headlines that resonate in the Washington, D.C., beltway leave everyday Americans scratching their heads or even frustrated. They feel politicians elevate the priorities of special interests over delivering wins for the American people.

It caught many folks in the District of Columbia off-guard when President Donald Trump requested Congress tie the SAVE America Act to a $350 billion investment in defense in a third budget reconciliation bill.

After months of beltway insiders trying to shelve the SAVE America Act, some establishment politicians have sought to selectively highlight the $1.5 trillion topline as an annual funding increase, but this brushes past critical distinctions betwee discretionary and mandatory spending.

For those tracking the president’s fiscal year 2027 budget submitted to Congress this spring, the president’s request was not random. In fact, it was a request months—or even years—in the making, representing major strategic importance for American national security and American jobs.

Here’s the White House’s Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) explanation for these funds:

The Budget also includes a request for $350 billion in additional mandatory resources for critical Administration priorities such as increasing access to critical munitions and further expansion of the defense industrial base.  The mandatory funding protects key priorities such as providing flexibility in maturing technology for delivery and allowing for acquisition approaches for portfolios of capabilities that broaden opportunities for new entrants.

Under the leadership of OMB Director Russell Vought and Acting Deputy Director Hal Duncan, the American people have strong advocates for commonsense policy interwoven with smart, long-term thinking. This request is no different.

No matter how one feels about the ongoing conflicts in Iran or Ukraine, one thing has been made crystal clear: the American industrial base, after decades of being hollowed out and outsourced, lacks the capacity to supply the resources our warfighters need in a sustained conflict. Just as President Joe Biden’s weakness prompted adversaries to take advantage of the situation abroad, an American military with depleted stockpiles and an inability to mobilize undermines the deterrence strategy that keeps us out of war.

America celebrates her 250th birthday this year, but this principle of deterrence is centuries old. The Roman poet Vegetius wrote in the late fourth or early fifth century AD, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

American security and prosperity are underpinned by American military and economic might, and President Trump’s defense budget is meant to send a massive demand signal to American factories both to encourage investment in infrastructure and labor and to make sure the weapons our warfighters need are built and delivered on time.

This is more than just a slogan, coming as it does during China’s massive, historic military buildup. For example, China’s navy now has more battle force ships than ours and is engaged in a massive buildup of its nuclear arsenal.

The Trump administration has picked up this cause just as President Ronald Reagan did under the banner of “Peace through Strength.”

But it’s not just the Trump administration that sees this opportunity for a generational investment in jobs for the American industrial base. The Heritage Foundation published an analysis of the 2027 budget request this month, spotlighting why mandatory spending, rather than yearly appropriations, is the right way to fund this new investment.

Many of these steps are commonsense economic policies that will also be helpful to the U.S. economy as a whole, the health of which is an essential part of national security. One cannot have a defense industrial base without an industrial base. To this end, the Trump Administration is rightfully looking to ameliorate long-term capacity issues with the defense industrial base by focusing on increasing capital flows to industry, reducing costs of production, expanding the available labor pool, and increasing and stabilizing demand.

Federal policy is finally aligning to work with the free market, not against it. Critics of the ossifying defense contracting space have argued it is increasingly inefficient and ineffective at delivering for the American people.

President Trump’s defense investment aligns with innovators at the Pentagon. When Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer published “The Defense Reformation” in 2024, it was a scathing critique of the apathetic defense planners lost in Soviet-style five-year plans. Now, his book “Mobilize,” diving into these principles, is a New York Times bestseller.

American deterrence is back in style in America-first policy, and hopefully not too late. The best time to start is now, with a third reconciliation bill attacking fraud, promoting accountability, and investing in American jobs through a generational investment in the American industrial base.