Trump would boost defense spending to $639 billion in fiscal 2018

President Trump will request $639 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2018, including $65 billion in the overseas contingency operations account, according to his budget blueprint released Thursday.

The request is expected to be $574 billion for the Defense Department's base budget, which is a 10 percent increase from the funding level in the 2017 continuing resolution, according to the budget document released Thursday morning. More details are expected when the administration releases its full budget in May.

The number is just below what Obama proposed to spend in fiscal 2018 in his 2013 future years defense plan, according to a chart posted by Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The $639 billion covers fiscal 2018 funding for the Defense Department. The total request for all national defense is about $668 billion, which includes money for defense programs that fall outside the Defense Department, like nuclear work at the Department of Energy. The total national defense figure minus the $65 billion in OCO gives the $603 billion number OMB director Mick Mulvaney talked about last month, Harrison explained.

The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act authorized $551.7 billion for base Defense Department needs and $59.5 billion in overseas contingency operations. Congress also passed $5.8 billion supplemental request from Obama to fund additional operations in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State.