Members of the West Virginia National Guard patrol around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Aug. 26, 2025. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s $605 million funding request for the National Guard’s ongoing deployment in Washington is raising questions among appropriators on Capitol Hill.
Top Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee on Friday asked the National Guard Bureau chief for a cost breakdown of the deployment and how it has impacted the force’s ability to train for its traditional role of reacting to disasters and supporting combat operations overseas.
“Every day and every dollar spent keeping the National Guard here takes away from where they are needed elsewhere,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, of Connecticut, the committee’s ranking member, during a hearing on the Guard’s budget.
The White House’s funding request is for fiscal year 2027, which begins on Oct. 1, implying an extended deployment of the National Guard in the nation’s capital. Several news reports have said Trump intends to maintain the deployment through the end of his second term, on Jan. 20, 2029.
He first mobilized the Guard in August, declaring a crime emergency in Washington, and said this year that he “never” wants to withdraw it.
“People, they look, they say, ‘We feel so good, we feel so safe. We see these beautiful, strong people, and they’re so nice,’ ” Trump said last month. “They help. They open the doors for people. They carry bags. They pick up paper when they see paper on the ground.”
Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee estimated in a report in February that the deployment had cost taxpayers more than $330 million and was projected to cost $602 million per year.
In addition to the $605 million requested for the Guard’s mobilization for the “safeguarding” of Washington, the Trump administration is also seeking $216 million for a National Guard Reaction Force to “respond to incidents requiring defense support of civil authorities.”
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., asks questions at a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on Friday, April 17, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)