Anggaran pertahanan Trump akan mengirim miliaran ke Texas. Apakah partai GOP akan ikut serta?

President Donald Trump’s controversial $1.5 trillion defense budget request stands to send billions of dollars to Texas military bases and defense contractors, including Joint Base San Antonio.

But with congressional Republicans and Democrats alike raising doubts about increasing the defense budget by 44% — representing the largest annual spending increase since World War II — the administration faces an uphill climb as appropriations hearings continue this month.

GOP budget hawks like U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, have raised concerns about the deficit, while Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett, of Austin, and Veronica Escobar of El Paso, have been sharply critical of Trump’s ongoing war with Iran.

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Even U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Abilene, the chair of the House budget committee and who has long advocated for an expanded military, has been vague on Trump’s proposal. “Whether it is the entire increase they are requesting, I don't know,” he told reporters last month.

“There are challenges ultimately facing the administration in getting a $1.5 trillion top line,” said Seamus Daniels, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. “Within the Republican party you have budget hawks who don't necessarily want to increase the budget and potentially increase the deficit.”

Texas is at the center of Trump’s effort to expand the U.S. military, amid a war in Iran that threatens to expand across the Middle East.

Texas has 14 active duty military bases, among the most of any state in the country, and is home to large defense manufacturing plants operated by contractors including Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

Trump has budgeted hundreds of billions of dollars for more munitions, fighter jets and other military equipment, including nearly $75 billion for the manufacturing of military drones, unmanned aircraft designed to attack enemy forces. 

One of those facilities expected to produce the drones is the U.S. Army’s Red River Army Depot outside Texarkana, which Congress has already authorized $150 million in funding to develop a drone-manufacturing plant.

“We may have conflicts with thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of drones, and our military has to be capable of producing them,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, said during an event at the facility Thursday. “Red River is going to be critical going forward on drone manufacturing for the army.”

Lockheed Martin’s sprawling F-35 plant in Fort Worth would also be scaling up, after the Pentagon requested 85 new F-35 jets — up from 47 jets this year — at a cost of $18 billion

And the Pentagon is requesting $17.5 billion for Trump’s “golden dome” missile defense system, with more than a dozen firms in and around Austin and San Antonio vying for contracts.

In addition, Texas military bases are set for at least $1.2 billion in upgrades, according to an analysis of military budget documents by Hearst Newspapers.

Under Trump’s budget request, Joint Base San Antonio, which includes the Army’s Fort Sam Houston and the Air Force’s Lackland and Randolph bases, would receive more than $880 million for construction projects, including a new barracks and cyber operations center.

Dyess Air Force Base outside Abilene, which houses part of the military’s long-range bomber fleet, is set to receive $386 million for construction projects, including a new flight simulator facility. And the Army’s Fort Bliss, outside El Paso, would get $33 million for a new shipping facility.

That doesn’t include increased funding for existing facilities, like $68 million for a Navy radar system operating out of Texas, Virginia and Puerto Rico, which is used to track drug smugglers.

With so much funding at stake, the White House could use individual appropriations to try and cajole recalcitrant lawmakers into supporting the $1.5 trillion budget request, Daniels, the defense analyst, said. He pointed to the Pentagon’s decision to divide funding for the purchase of F-35 jets between a standard budget request of $1.15 trillion and a separate $350 billion reconciliation bill.

“That could point to the administration aiming to push lawmakers who have constituents or stakeholders connected to the F-35 program to support reconciliation down the line,” he said.

Democrats have largely criticized the Pentagon’s request as overly expensive considering proposed cuts by the Trump administration to domestic programs like Medicaid.

After the Pentagon budget was released last month, Casar took to social media to attack Trump’s “endless wars.”

“He wants the biggest increase to military spending in 70 years,” he wrote. “How does he pay for it? Cuts to ‘education, health, housing and more.’ Hell no.”

But among a large swath of Republicans, there is a desire to expand funding to a U.S. military they believe has long been under funded.

U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Abilene, a former Air Force pilot, advocated in a recent op-ed for increasing the Air Force’s budget, writing the war in Iran will “severely test and strain our aircraft availability and munitions stockpiles.”

“The uncomfortable truth is that our system should be blinking red,” he wrote. “We are achieving extraordinary results, but our force and fleet are wearing out faster than they are being replaced.”