As the Trump administration proceeds with the military-police occupation of Minnesota in the face of mass resistance, and wages war all over the world, the majority of Democrats have joined with Republicans to pass a record military spending bill.
On Thursday, the House passed the combined defense and consolidated spending bills (H.R. 7148) by a vote of 341-88, with 149 Democrats voting yes and only 64 voting no. A separate bill funding the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (H.R. 7147) passed 220-207, with seven Democrats crossing the aisle to vote yes.
Republicans made no secret of what Democrats were voting for. After the vote Thursday, Representative Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, declared the legislation would “champion American military power, ensuring that our brave warfighters have the tools, weapon systems and capabilities to meet any foe anywhere in the world at any time.” He summarized the bill’s purpose in three words: “America First, Fully Funded.”
Representative Ken Calvert, chairman of the Defense Subcommittee, said the bill “protects the administration’s ‘America first’ defense agenda.”
The House Appropriations Committee issued a statement hailing the “Republican-led funding that puts America First. These bills advance President Trump’s agenda.”
Despite Republicans openly proclaiming that the legislation would fund Trump’s fascistic agenda, nearly two-thirds of House Democrats voted in favor of the defense and consolidated spending bill.
An “opposition” party that votes this way is not in opposition, but an active collaborator. The Democratic Party is an instrument of the same ruling class that stands behind Trump.
The total defense appropriations amount to $839 billion, some $8.4 billion above what even Trump requested. The bill funds $27.2 billion for 17 warships, including a Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine and two Virginia-class fast attack submarines. It allocates $7.6 billion for 47 F-35 stealth fighters, $3 billion for the Air Force’s sixth-generation F-47 fighter, $1.9 billion for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, and $4.5 billion for hypersonic weapons systems. The legislation fully funds the ongoing “modernization” of the nuclear triad—the B-21, the Columbia-class submarine, and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Department of Homeland Security receives $64.4 billion, with approximately $10 billion earmarked for ICE. While the vote totals differed between the two bills, the fundamental intention is the same: the Democratic Party is systematically enabling the Trump administration’s assault on democratic rights and its preparations for global war.
The seven Democrats who voted for the DHS funding bill—Don Davis, Henry Cuellar, Laura Gillen, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Vicente Gonzalez, Jared Golden and Tom Suozzi—voted to fund the military occupation of Minnesota currently terrorizing immigrant communities. More than 2,000 ICE officers have been deployed across the state. Earlier this month, Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman and US citizen, was shot dead by a federal immigration agent. A 5-year-old boy was detained by ICE officers. On Wednesday, whistleblowers leaked an internal ICE memo authorizing agents to enter homes without judicial warrants.
The passage of the military spending bill comes after the Trump administration invaded Venezuela, overthrew the Maduro government and seized the country’s oil resources as part of Washington’s drive to consolidate its grip over Latin America in preparation for confrontation with China.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced that a “massive American fleet” is heading toward Iran, “just in case.” The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group has reportedly been redeployed from the South China Sea to the Middle East. This follows Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last year.
At the same time, Trump has called for the annexation of Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. The drive to seize Greenland, combined with threats against Panama and military operations throughout the Western Hemisphere, reveal an administration preparing for global conflict on multiple fronts.
Trump has demanded that the military budget for 2027 reach $1.5 trillion. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote, “For the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, but rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board enthusiastically endorsed Trump’s demand in an editorial Friday titled “A Serious Defense Budget, at Last.” The subtitle declared: “A $1.5 trillion military will cost much less than a war with China.” The editorial insisted that “the U.S. military is too small to prevail decisively in a war with a peer” and that “the real choice today is between guns and runaway entitlements.” It concluded, “The best way to go down as a peacemaker is by building a military no one wants to fight.”
This open declaration of support for massive military expansion from the leading organ of American finance capital exposes the ruling class consensus behind the drive to war. Whether under Democratic or Republican administrations, the trajectory is the same: ever greater military spending, ever more aggressive wars, and the preparation for a catastrophic global conflict.
The Democratic Party’s vote to fund Trump’s military buildup continues a pattern of systematic collaboration. Throughout 2025, Democrats voted to fund the military, refused to oppose regime change operations, and accepted the consolidation of authoritarian executive power. They represent no opposition because they serve the same class interests as their Republican counterparts.
The working class cannot rely on the Democratic Party, on Congress, or on any faction of the political establishment to oppose the drive to war and authoritarianism. Opposition must come from below—from the independent mobilization of workers in the United States and internationally against the capitalist system that produces war, dictatorship and social inequality. The building of a mass socialist movement is the only way to halt the catastrophe being prepared by the American ruling class and its political servants in both parties.