The Department of War has requested about $17.5 billion for Golden Dome in fiscal 2027, but only about $398 million is included in the regular discretionary budget, leaving roughly $17.1 billion dependent on mandatory funding through reconciliation.

The funding split has raised concerns about whether the program will have the money needed to continue expanding as lawmakers face an uncertain legislative calendar ahead of the November midterm elections.

Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned lawmakers that Golden Dome needs Congress to act on its funding.

“This stands or falls with FY-27 appropriations,” Karako told lawmakers, describing funding as the “single most urgent thing for Golden Dome.” He added that without funding, “there’s no program, it’s just PowerPoint slides.”

Karako made the comments during a Sept. 29 Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing focused on the initiative.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2027 budget documents show $397.97 million in discretionary funding and $17.12 billion in mandatory funding for the Golden Dome for America Fund, for a total request of about $17.52 billion.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., questioned why the administration had to rely on reconciliation rather than securing the funding through the regular appropriations process.

“Should it have been necessary to go to a reconciliation to get this started? I would say no. This should have been on a bipartisan basis,” Rounds said.

Reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority, allowing Republicans to advance spending without Democratic support. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has indicated that another defense reconciliation package is unlikely to move before the midterm elections.

The funding situation is further complicated by the government’s current continuing resolution. Golden Dome does not have a fiscal 2026 regular appropriation that can serve as a baseline for additional funding under the temporary spending measure.

Congress previously provided $25 billion for Golden Dome through the July 2025 reconciliation law. Program Director Gen. Michael Guetlein said roughly 90% of that money had been obligated by mid-August.

Trump launched Golden Dome through an executive order in January 2025. The proposed missile defense architecture is intended to combine ground- and space-based sensors and interceptors to defend the United States against ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles.

The Department of War describes Golden Dome as a centerpiece of the administration’s homeland-defense strategy, with the fiscal 2027 request supporting space-based and terrestrial sensors, command and control, kinetic interceptors and next-generation technologies.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a system broadly consistent with Trump’s executive order could cost approximately $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy and operate over 20 years. That estimate is based on a hypothetical architecture because the Pentagon has not released enough details about its final design to determine its actual long-term cost