Officials Expect Trump to Revise Pentagon’s 2026 Budget Request

Congressional and Naval leaders expect the Trump administration to revise the Defense Department’s 2026 budget request before it is amended by Congress, which will influence the Navy’s shipbuilding, officials said Wednesday at the 2025 AFCEA West conference in San Diego, California.

Rep. Joe Courtney, member of the House Armed Services Committee and ranking member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, said the Trump administration will “definitely put their stamp on it.”

“I think that’s totally the expectation that’s out there right now. There’s definitely some really strong advocates. [Mississippi Senator] Roger Wicker and others are pushing for a very aggressive number in terms of the 2026 budget. It’s a little premature for me to speculate … my expectation is it’s going to go higher, but how much, it’s hard to say,” Courtney added.

Vice Adm. John B. Skillman, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said there are “three equal likely futures” for the 2026 budget ranging from a lower, equal and increased top line budget.

Skillman’s office is preparing for each scenario, focusing on naval readiness across the globe, including bolstering shipbuilding.

“Each of those areas are focus areas for my team to be able to understand what we would do in each of those type of areas,” Skillman said. “The administration has already come out and said that they want to bolster shipbuilding. I would anticipate moving forward in that direction. I think it’s really incumbent as we work with the transition that we explain exactly where the money is and why it’s in the places that it is.”

Despite interest from the Trump administration to increase shipbuilding, Courtney highlighted the skills gap between generations and emphasized the need to educate younger employees to further develop their skills.

“The fact of the matter is we really do need to focus in terms of connecting young people, whether it’s through trade schools, pre-apprenticeship training programs, apprenticeship programs,” Courtney said. “I’m actually pretty excited that we’re starting to see a real shift in curriculum that’s happening in secondary schools across the country and job training programs. We have to view them as part of the ‘all-of-government’ effort to fix this problem.”

Skillman said that naval readiness is his biggest concern.

“The number one priority that we have is ready players on the field, maximizing the platforms that we have available to go to a fight,” Skillman said.

Readiness will be a major contributor to the Navy’s ability to respond to threats in hotspots like the Black Sea, Red Sea and in the straits between China and Taiwan. He said that Congress will need to move beyond continuing resolutions to ensure the Navy can fully access and deploy the funds it would receive in a new budget.

Courtney added that even with the current polarization in Congress, he is optimistic that both parties can find agreement on supporting the Navy to ensure the service is ready for present and future fights.

“This is a no kidding, serious challenge that we face right now, and it really is very heavily in the maritime space. I’m still very bullish that even though these are tough problems that are on the agenda here today, that we really have more consensus and more agreement than I think people would expect based on most people’s perception of Washington.”