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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 17, 2026

At a Gastonia Rally for Senate Nominee Michael Whatley, Trump Tells the Crowd He Won't Send Pending Hurricane Helene FEMA Money to North Carolina "If Michael Loses" — Then Says He's "Only Kidding," but Gov. Josh Stein, Sen. Andy Kim and Gov. Gavin Newsom Take Him at His Word

Campaigning for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley at a September 16, 2026 rally at Gastonia Municipal Airport, President Trump referenced roughly $2 billion in Hurricane Helene FEMA funding already delivered to western North Carolina and pending additional money, then told the crowd: "Now, if Michael loses, I'm not sending it, ok?" He immediately added, "No, I'm only kidding. You're gonna get it Michael." The remark, coming a week after Trump unveiled his $5,000 "dividend" pledge conditioned on Republicans keeping the House and Senate, drew swift reaction. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein posted that it was "no way to respond to a tragic disaster, no way to run a country, no way to campaign for office," and pressed the administration to fund the state's $10 billion Helene recovery request. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said he doubted the "joke" framing, pointing to the administration's record of withholding disaster aid from Democratic-led states recovering from last winter's storms. California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the threat "SICK" and "UN-AMERICAN." The White House has approved a lower share of disaster requests from states with Democratic governors and senators than from Republican-led states, according to FEMA's own data.

“Trump isn't joking. He did this to New Jersey and other blue states seeking funding to recover from last winter's storms. What kind of leader does that to their own people?”
Andy Kim (D-NJ) · Sep 17, 2026

Sep 15, 2026· Updated

A Lame-Duck Democrat Files Articles of Impeachment Naming Four People Killed by ICE and CBP — and the White House Answers That He "Should Be Thanking President Trump"

On Monday, August 24, 2026, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) filed H.Res.1486, articles of impeachment charging President Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors for the way federal immigration enforcement has been run. The resolution accuses Trump of "abusing the powers of the presidency by operating United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as his vicious, quota-driven, unaccountable paramilitary police forces," and of "wantonly devolving the United States democratic republic into an authoritarian regime." The resolution names four people killed by the two agencies in 2026: Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in July. Green's charge is not only the killings but the aftermath — that the agencies operated "with anonymity and secrecy," assaulted civilians, and covered up unjustified killings. Green is the member who has forced this question more than anyone else. He was the first to file articles against Trump in his first term, and he filed again in June 2025 over the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, an effort the House torpedoed 344-79. The House has voted to table five of his impeachment resolutions; the most recent, in December 2025, was tabled 237-140 with 47 Democrats voting "present." Green lost his primary runoff in May 2026 and leaves the House in January, which is why coverage framed this as a lame-duck filing that he knows lacks the votes. The timing is what makes it more than a footnote. It lands 71 days before the midterms, while House Democrats are openly split over how hard to confront Trump — Hakeem Jeffries said at a CNBC summit in June that impeachment would not be a focus for the party even if it wins the majority, and Jamie Raskin has called impeachment "not a plausible instrument" from the minority. The White House and DHS both answered within hours, and neither engaged the underlying deaths.

“They will acknowledge that what the president is doing is impeachable, but they would have us wait. Well, the Constitution doesn't have a wait clause in it. … I believe that there are some Republicans and Democrats who are considering voting to protect the president.”
Al Green (D-TX) · Sep 15, 2026

A "Meet the Press" Host Says Trump's Endorsements Have Had "Mixed Results" — and He Answers That She Will Be "Reported to the FCC for Rebuke or Punishment," Prompting the Commission's Lone Democrat to Reply That It Has No Such Power

On Sunday, August 30, 2026, "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker said on the air that President Trump's primary endorsements this cycle had produced "mixed results" — a routine piece of election-season analysis nine weeks before the November 3 midterms. Trump answered on Truth Social by asking a federal regulator to act against her. Calling her "the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press," he disputed the characterization — citing what he said were win rates of 100 percent for his endorsed Senate candidates and 98 percent for House candidates, and pointing to primary victories by Senate candidate Darline Graham and House candidate Mike Mazzei — and wrote: "Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment." He added that he hoped FCC Chairman Brendan Carr "and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously," and in a separate post wrote that "THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE!" The FCC has no such authority. Its own rules state that the Commission "cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view," and it does not license individual journalists — it licenses stations. Anna Gomez, the Commission's only Democratic member and its most vocal internal critic of Carr's handling of broadcasters, said so directly within hours: "As I've said many times, the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn't like. These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it." Carr, a Trump appointee, did not respond to CNN's request for comment. NBC News said Welker is "one of the best in the business" and that it stands behind her. The episode lands in the middle of a running fight over the FCC's posture toward broadcasters: Carr had already forced early license renewals on Disney's eight ABC stations after Trump publicly demanded ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel, a move ABC and Disney are now suing over on First Amendment grounds.

“THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE!”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 30, 2026

After Losing Four Times in Court, the Administration Appeals the Order Forcing It to Keep Paying for the $16 Billion Gateway Tunnel — a Project Trump Declared "Terminated" Because It Was Money "Schumer Has Worked 20 Years to Get"

On Friday, August 28, 2026, the Trump administration filed notice that it will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas that permanently barred the Department of Transportation from freezing federal funding for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project. Judge Vargas ruled on June 29, 2026 that the freeze violated federal law. It was the administration's fourth straight loss in the case, which New York and New Jersey brought in February 2026. Gateway is a $16 billion program to bore new rail tunnels under the Hudson River and rehabilitate the existing 116-year-old North River Tunnel, the single two-track bottleneck carrying roughly 200,000 Amtrak and NJ Transit passengers a day between New Jersey and Penn Station. The federal share is $6.88 billion under a Capital Investment Grants full funding grant agreement signed before Trump returned to office. The fight began on October 16, 2025, when Trump said of the money that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had spent two decades securing, "Tell him it's terminated." The Transportation Department publicly disputed that the program was cancelled — Secretary Sean Duffy had called the projects "important" days earlier — but the department stopped reimbursing the Gateway Development Commission for completed work. By early February 2026 the commission had gone more than four months without payment and construction stopped, idling roughly 1,000 union workers. New York and New Jersey sued on February 3, 2026; a court blocked the freeze days later, and DOT released $235 million in withheld reimbursements on February 18. Work resumed. Judge Vargas made the block permanent on June 29. The New York–New Jersey congressional delegation has been on this continuously — a January 28, 2026 letter led by Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Andy Kim warning the funds had to move before the February 6 stoppage, and a February 6 press conference in which nine members of the New Jersey delegation denounced the freeze as political retaliation. Rep. Rob Menendez said flatly that Trump froze the money "to target Democratic lawmakers." Reaction to the August 28 appeal was near-uniform among the region's Democrats, who noted the administration's unbroken losing record. No Republican member of the New York or New Jersey delegation is on record supporting the appeal.

“Mr. President: keep the project on track, and support the hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans who rely on this train line each and every day to get to work, appointments, and see friends and loved ones.”
Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) · Aug 28, 2026

The Park Service Has Spent More Than a Year Working to Hand a Quarter-Mile Strip of Yosemite to a Las Vegas Developer — and California’s Two Senators Answer That the Park “Is Not for Sale”

NOTUS reported on August 28, 2026 that since the spring of 2025 the National Park Service has been working, at the direction of Trump political appointees at the Interior Department, to cede a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite National Park to a company controlled through a web of limited-liability companies by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a Las Vegas-based real-estate and investment firm run by Jeff Pori. The New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Hill matched the reporting the same day. In 2024 Kingsbarn bought 83 acres of undeveloped land immediately outside Yosemite's western boundary, roughly five miles from one of the park's groves of ancient sequoias. The parcel has no direct road connection to Highway 120, the park's main thoroughfare. The exchange under discussion would give Kingsbarn a strip of park land to build that connection; in return the company would buy land of equal value elsewhere in California and turn it over to the Park Service. Interior floated paying for the exchange out of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, money Congress set aside for conservation on public lands. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, objected and kept the deal off the subcommittee's endorsed project list. Career Park Service staff told NOTUS the directive was unprecedented and that Interior leadership pushed them to move faster. Ceding park land to a private party runs against roughly 150 years of practice in which national park boundaries have expanded, not contracted. Don Neubacher, a former Yosemite superintendent, said the transfer is "basically illegal" and warned that the specific area is habitat for Pacific fishers and great gray owls. Cicely Muldoon, another former superintendent with 40 years in the Park Service, said the agency's "basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations." The Interior Department denied the reporting, calling it a story built on "anonymous allegations to manufacture a political narrative." Lanny Davis, a Democratic lawyer who identified himself as counsel to Kingsbarn, confirmed after publication that the company was pursuing the exchange and said he — not Trump — had brought the proposal to Interior, framing it as "a pro-environmental decision." California's two Democratic senators and the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee all came out against the deal within hours. Padilla's office said it was working with Senate Appropriations staff to block it.

“Projects should be chosen on merit, not on an applicant’s connections to high-ranking Trump Administration officials.”
Alex Padilla (D-CA) · Aug 28, 2026

Aug 28, 2026· Updated

Five Months Into a War Fought to Stop Iran From Enriching Uranium, Trump Sends Congress a Nuclear Agreement With Saudi Arabia — and Four Democrats Call It "the Starting Gun for a Middle East Nuclear Arms Race"

On Monday, August 24, 2026, the Trump administration transmitted the classified text of a U.S.–Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement to Capitol Hill, starting the review clock required by Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee now have 90 days of continuous session to review it; absent a joint resolution of disapproval, the agreement takes effect. The pact was signed in Washington last month by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart. It would open the kingdom to U.S. nuclear technology and reactors. President Trump has publicly promised there will be "no enrichment of material" and has tied the whole thing to Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel: the deal, he wrote on July 23, "is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords." The administration reaffirmed that condition when it sent the text up. Critics say the promise and the paper do not match. The agreement contains no permanent, legally binding prohibition on enrichment or reprocessing — the "gold standard" the U.S. secured from the UAE in 2009 — and does not require Saudi Arabia to adopt the IAEA's Additional Protocol, the inspection regime 146 countries have accepted. The Wall Street Journal reported the agreement includes a joint U.S.–Saudi study of possible future domestic enrichment, and U.S. officials have told reporters the door is left open. The objection that cuts across party lines is the timing. The United States has been at war with Iran since late February over Tehran's nuclear program. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), one of the few Republicans on record against the deal, put it plainly: "We're bombing a country to keep them from getting a nuclear weapon, but we're signing a deal with another country." Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) made the same argument in a joint op-ed on August 4 and called on Congress to reject the agreement outright. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking Democrat on Foreign Relations, has stopped short of rejection but said Congress should approach the agreement "with great caution." The Saudis, for their part, have said normalization with Israel requires a clear path to Palestinian statehood, which Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected — so the Abraham Accords condition Trump has attached may keep the deal from taking effect regardless of what Congress does.

“With this deal, President Trump is not only triggering a nuclear arms race in the Middle East but also weakening America's security and standing on the world stage.”
Jeff Merkley (D-OR) · Aug 28, 2026

The Air Force Charges a Major Under Article 88 for Calling Trump a "Failure" — His Lawyer Says He Is the First Officer of His Rank Ever Charged With Contempt Toward the President

On Monday, August 24, 2026, the Air Force preferred charges against Maj. Jason P. Watson, an officer last assigned to Poland, over public statements calling for President Trump's impeachment. The charge sheet his attorney released lists ten specifications across three articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice: three under Article 88 (contempt toward officials), five under Article 92 (failure to obey an order), and two under Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer). Article 88 is the provision that makes it a crime for a commissioned officer to use "contemptuous words" against the President, Vice President, Congress and other named officials. It is rarely invoked, and prosecutors must show the words were contemptuous rather than merely critical. Watson's counsel, Christopher Mutimer, says Watson is the first major in the history of the U.S. military to be charged under it. The Article 88 specifications trace to three things: a June interview Watson gave the Substack newsletter Defenders of Our Republic, a July 1 protest in uniform on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and an August 17 CNN interview in which he said Trump "is flagrantly violating the Constitution, breaking the law, engaged in rampant corruption, and is killing Americans." The July 1 demonstration was held alongside Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who was calling for the impeachment of both Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Watson was arrested there, then taken into pretrial confinement again on August 18 — a day after the CNN interview — after telling his chain of command he would no longer wear the uniform. The Article 92 and 133 counts allege he wrongfully wore the uniform at the Capitol, violated leave regulations to travel to Washington, and then refused to wear the uniform. Watson has remained in military pretrial confinement. "Who I am is immaterial," he said in a statement through counsel. "In the grand scheme of things, I'm just a nobody. What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I'm willing to pay to say it." The case tests where military law ends and political speech begins at a moment when the administration has already fired the leadership of Stars and Stripes over what its editor called censorship of the troops' newspaper. Active-duty service members do not have the same First Amendment latitude as civilians, and the Air Force has framed the prosecution as ordinary accountability. As of publication, Green is the only member of Congress on record about the case.

“Pursuant to a thorough investigation — which will proceed unimpeded — commanders will ensure appropriate disposition when holding service members accountable in accordance with military law and due process.”
Troy Meink (R) · Aug 25, 2026

Aug 25, 2026· Updated

The Navy Moves to Strip Doris Miller’s Name From the Aircraft Carrier It Named for Him During Trump’s First Term — and Internally Discusses Putting the Sitting President’s Name on It Instead

CNN reported on August 20, 2026 that the Navy is working to rename the Ford-class aircraft carrier CVN-81, which since January 2020 has been designated the future USS Doris Miller. Two of the three sources familiar with the internal discussions said there have been conversations about renaming it for President Trump — a step with no precedent, because no U.S. aircraft carrier has ever been named for a sitting president. Doris "Dorie" Miller was a mess attendant aboard the USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. He carried wounded sailors to safety and then manned a .50-caliber anti-aircraft gun he had never been trained to use, firing until the ammunition ran out. Admiral Chester Nimitz awarded him the Navy Cross in 1942, making him the first Black American to receive it. Miller was killed in 1943 when the escort carrier Liscome Bay was torpedoed. The decision to name CVN-81 for him was made during Trump's first term and made the ship the first U.S. carrier named for an enlisted sailor and the first named for an African American. According to the reporting, the effort has been under way since earlier this year; Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao's office has also been rewriting the official guidance on how ships are named and who may be named, including presidents. The Navy has effectively stopped using the name internally and refers to the ship only by its hull number. One source said the Navy intends to name a different, smaller warship for Miller and is recommending him for the Medal of Honor. The Navy is under time pressure: the keel-laying ceremony is expected at the end of 2026. A Pentagon official said there was "nothing official to announce at this time." Miller's family said they learned of it from the press. His great-nephew Thomas Bledsoe told ABC News that "for our family, it was quite a shock to hear that there was conversation about the possibility of renaming the Doris Miller carrier, and so not only was it a shock but it was a shock in that we found out from a news outlet." The two members of Congress who responded most directly are both combat veterans: Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot who flew 39 combat missions, and Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger. NAACP President Derrick Johnson called the reported plan "a slap in the face to every war hero and every service member who has worn the uniform," and tied it to the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which had just returned from a record deployment.

“The audacity to even suggest that we replace the name of Doris Miller, a hero whose courage shined on one of our nation’s darkest days, with draft-dodging Donald Trump is disgusting.”
Donald Norcross (D-NJ) · Aug 25, 2026

IndyCars Race Past the Capitol at 160 MPH: Trump Closes the National Mall for a Grand Prix He Ordered by Executive Order — and the Speaker Says He Will Push to Make It Annual

On August 23, 2026, IndyCar drivers ran 147 laps on a 1.66-mile temporary street circuit looping the National Mall and running down Pennsylvania and Independence avenues, reaching about 160 mph past the Capitol, the Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery of Art. Kyle Kirkwood won. President Trump, accompanied by the first lady, led a slow lap in the presidential limousine and waved the green flag. Organizers put attendance at up to 150,000 over the weekend. The race exists because Trump ordered it. He floated it in an AI-generated video on Truth Social in January 2026 and signed an executive order on January 30 authorizing it as part of the country's 250th-anniversary celebrations, directing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to designate a route and secure permits "as expeditiously as possible." When the original route ran into congressional jurisdiction over Capitol grounds, Duffy called organizers and proposed proceeding under the executive order with an adjusted course. The event was run by Freedom 250, a Trump-backed nonprofit lodged inside the National Park Foundation, which the White House built as a parallel to America250 — the bipartisan commission Congress chartered to organize the anniversary. On July 2, 2026, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, led by Ranking Member Jared Huffman, released an interim report alleging that donors who intended to give to the congressionally chartered America250 were instead handed wire instructions routing their money to Freedom 250's bank account, conduct the report said could constitute wire fraud. Race weekend brought three hours of flight suspensions at Reagan National, extensive downtown road and parking closures, and a vibration study by the National Gallery of Art, which implemented protective measures for its collection. Trump administration officials and the House Speaker spent the weekend arguing the event should be repeated; the race's own organizers were more cautious, with Penske Corporation president Bud Denker calling it "the first ever. It might be the only," and IndyCar president Doug Boles calling it likely a one-year event.

“The track is wonderful. You know, we’re going around the Capitol, but this turned out to be a better track, and so now we see the Capitol.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 23, 2026

Trump Calls Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie "LOSERS ALL" in a Late-Night Post — and Greene Answers That He Is the "Trojan Horse" and She Wishes She Had "Never Supported Him"

At roughly 10:30 p.m. on Friday, August 21, 2026 — hours after Republicans from cattle country spent the day attacking his decision to waive tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef — President Trump posted a long Truth Social message attacking three of the most prominent figures in the breakaway "America First" faction that has been forming against him. "Tucker Carlson just met with Lightweight 'Former' Congressman, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie 'Traitor' Greene, LOSERS ALL!" the post began. Trump wrote that Carlson's "Views" had "fallen through the floor," called him "totally irrelevant" and "a very Low I.Q. individual," said Greene had gone "from Ultra Conservative to a Liberal 'Fool'" and described her as "a highly neurotic young woman," and called Massie "a failed politician, and a real JERK." He closed by mocking the idea of the three running together: "What a team this would be, THREE LOSERS, and a pocketful of change!" The post referred to a gathering at Carlson's home in Maine in early August. On August 1, Greene — who resigned her Georgia House seat in January and has since left the Republican Party — posted a photograph of herself at a table with Carlson, Massie and Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center who resigned in March over the Iran war. Greene wrote at the time: "We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he's betrayed us all." Kent later said publicly that the group was trying to build a new anti-war movement and had tried to persuade Carlson to run for president in 2028. The White House answered that gathering by calling the participants "an embarrassing collection of mostly whiny turncoats." The responses to Trump's post came the next day and were sharper than the post itself. Greene wrote that Trump's "demeanor, name calling, absurd and reckless rhetoric is unbecoming of the office of the president" and that "at this point, he's no different than an internet troll," then went further than she previously had: "now as president he's been revealed to be the Trojan horse who enforces many of the policies he claimed to be against... I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier and wish I had never supported him." Massie tied the outburst directly to the week's news — the beef backlash, the national debt crossing $40 trillion, and the Iran war — and wrote that Trump "posted this because we are the three he should have listened to." The exchange matters because it is the sharpest public break yet between a sitting president and the media-and-movement wing that carried him, eleven weeks before a midterm election in which Trump's own party is already treating the Iran war and the cost of living as liabilities. Trump himself acknowledged the electoral risk in the post, writing that the faction "could probably take a couple of points away from whatever the Republican ticket happens to be."

“Trump’s getting roasted today for his disastrous beef policy, the debt hit $40 trillion because of his "big beautiful bill," he stepped-in-it in Iran, and he’s weeks away from failing his mid-terms in November. He posted this because we are the three he should have listened to.”
Thomas Massie (R-KY) · Aug 22, 2026

Trump Refuses to Say He Backs Thune for Another Term as Senate GOP Leader — and Republican Senators Close Ranks Around Thune

In a Punchbowl News interview published Friday, August 7, 2026, President Trump pointedly declined to say whether he would support Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) for another term leading Senate Republicans, telling Jake Sherman "I don't want to get into that necessarily." Trump said he gets along with Thune personally but called it "unfortunate that he doesn't have the votes," referring to the two demands that have driven months of friction between them: passing the SAVE America Act and abolishing the legislative filibuster. Thune has repeatedly told Trump the Senate has neither 60 votes for the SAVE America Act nor 50 votes to end the filibuster — a position vindicated on August 8, when the voter ID component of the bill failed 52-46 on the Senate floor for the sixth time. The non-endorsement was widely read as an opening for a Trump-backed challenge to Thune's leadership. Instead, when senators were asked about it in the days after, Republicans closed ranks. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) said there is "a lot of respect for John Thune" in the conference and drew an explicit line: senators may defer to the president on policy, but the choice of their leader "belongs to us." Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) — who challenged Mitch McConnell for the leadership twice and who had sided with Trump on cancelling the August recess — offered only that leading the conference is "a hard job." Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) framed the rift as a policy disagreement between two men who "like each other." Thune himself declined to escalate, pointing to what he called "a really productive run" and noting he had warned from the outset that some of Trump's asks were closer to impossible than merely difficult. The episode marks a rare instance of Senate Republicans publicly declining to follow Trump's lead, and it sets up the question of whether Trump will recruit a challenger before the conference votes on leadership after the November 2026 midterms.

“I think we've had a really productive run. There are a couple things I said right from the very beginning are going to be difficult if not impossible—frankly more impossible—to do.”
John Thune (R-SD) · Aug 11, 2026

CBO Puts Trump’s "Golden Fleet" of Trump-Class Battleships at $275 Billion — $23.4 Billion for the First Ship Alone — and the Senate’s Top Budget Democrat Says Congress Should Refuse to Fund It

On August 5, 2026, the Congressional Budget Office released an estimate, requested by Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, of what President Trump's proposed new class of nuclear-powered battleships would cost. CBO put the 15-ship program at about $275 billion through 2056: roughly $23.4 billion for the lead ship, the future USS Defiant, and about $18 billion each for the 14 that would follow. If the design grows to 41,000 tons, CBO put the worst case at $528 billion. The Senate Budget Committee separately estimated that the 20-to-25-ship fleet Trump has described would run about $455 billion. Trump announced the "Golden Fleet" at Mar-a-Lago on December 22, 2025, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan, describing a battleship armed with hypersonic missiles, nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles, an electromagnetic railgun and high-powered lasers — several of which remain undeveloped. It would be the largest U.S. surface combatant since World War II. CBO cautioned that its numbers are "highly uncertain," resting on assessments of a design that does not yet exist, and questioned whether American shipyards have the capacity to build nuclear-powered vessels of this size at all. The Navy has asked for roughly $1 billion in advance procurement and about $837 million in research and development in fiscal 2027, with a planned $17 billion request for the first ship's procurement in fiscal 2028 — which is where the fight over whether the fleet gets built will land.

“He’d rather feed his own ego than feed the American people by putting his name on a $275 billion 15-battleship outlay.”
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) · Aug 6, 2026

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