Hegseth: Full $1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Be the 'Greatest Tribute' to Lindsey Graham

Get Lockheed Martin Alerts

Weekly insights + SMS alerts

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a personal plea to Congress on Monday: fully fund the Pentagon's proposed $1.5 trillion budget, and you'll be paying the highest possible honor to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. The occasion was a ceremony renaming Joint Base Charleston in Graham's memory, and Hegseth didn't mince words.

Hegseth Presses Congress for Full Pentagon Budget

"As we gather here today, the War Department is seeking a historic generational investment of $1.5 trillion for American warriors," Hegseth said at the South Carolina ceremony. He recalled Graham telling him, "This is the best military budget I've seen since I've been in Congress."

Hegseth added, "There could be no greater tribute than Congress could give than to invest in our warriors for the full $1.5 trillion."

President Donald Trump proposed raising military spending from the $901 billion Congress approved for 2026 to $1.5 trillion in 2027, a roughly 66% increase. Reuters reported the plan requires congressional approval and has drawn skepticism from budget analysts. Defense stocks including Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), RTX Corp. (RTX) (formerly Raytheon Technologies), General Dynamics Corp. (GD), and L3Harris Technologies (LHX) rallied after Trump unveiled the proposal in January.

U.S. defense stocks outperformed a broadly weaker market on Monday, as investors weighed persistent Middle East tensions and strained missile-defense inventories as the Pentagon pressed contractors to accelerate weapons production and replenish systems including Patriot and THAAD interceptors.

Iran War Sharpens Defense Spending Debate

The debate has intensified during the Iran war. Hegseth told senators in July that the conflict had cost $37.5 billion and sought nearly $70 billion in supplemental funding. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has called the $1.5 trillion request "fiscally irresponsible", arguing that federal debt poses a larger long-term security risk.

The Pentagon says the increase would expand weapons procurement, rebuild the defense industrial base and strengthen readiness.

Base Renaming Honors Graham's Military Legacy

Monday's ceremony formally renamed Joint Base Charleston as Joint Base Lindsey Graham. Graham, who died July 11 at 71 after an aortic dissection, served more than three decades in the Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve before retiring as a colonel in 2015.

Hegseth praised Graham's military advocacy and said the senator spent his "final years taking on a radical leftist ideology" that he argued had spread through American institutions. He also criticized what he called "woke, so-called leaders" from previous administrations.

Moody's analyst David Rogovic told Reuters in January that a sustained debt-financed increase of this scale would likely widen deficits, raise interest costs and reduce U.S. fiscal flexibility.

Image Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images