Trump Wins Fight to Blow $125 Million on ‘Dumbest Thing Ever’
Republicans have given Trump a symbolic trophy.
Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
Republicans have handed President Trump a win in one of his more eyebrow-raising vanity projects, a push to rename the Pentagon that Democrats say will cost up to $125 million and accomplish absolutely nothing.
The House Armed Services Committee voted along party lines to permanently rename the Department of Defense the Department of War, tucking the measure into the annual defense policy bill during a marathon late-night session. The move codifies an executive order Trump signed last fall, resurrecting a name the U.S. military bureaucracy last used in the 1940s.
Representative Adam Smith, of Washington and the committee’s top Democrat, was forthright in his assessment of the effort. “One of the dumbest things that has been done by this administration,” he said. “It’s semantic nonsense at a time when we have a lot of substantive arguments.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth finishes the installation of a 'Department of War' plaque at the River Entrance in front of the Pentagon in November.
Staff Sgt. Madelyn Keech/Staff Sgt. Madelyn Keech/Office of the Secretary of Defense
The amendment was introduced by Republican Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, a hard-line Trump ally, who framed the rebrand in soaring terms. “Restoring the name Department of War sends an unmistakable signal to the world,” Jackson said. “Deterrence only works when adversaries believe America is willing to fight and win to secure its interests.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has already taken to calling himself secretary of war, celebrated the vote on social media. “The Department of War will officially be restored soon,” he posted.
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The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a full renaming could run as high as $125 million—a number that landed badly with Democrats already furious over the bill’s $1 trillion overall price tag and what they described as a lack of meaningful guardrails around the nearly 100-day war with Iran.
Trump and Hegseth had already been calling it the ‘Department of War.’
Evan Vucci/REUTERS
Democrat Representative Pat Ryan of New York, one of a dozen Democrats who voted against the broader bill, did not mince words. “It’s performative bulls--t,” he said. “I think ending on that performative note summed up the whole situation.”
The broader National Defense Authorization Act—now carrying the renaming provision—cleared the committee in a bipartisan 44-12 vote, though the dozen Democratic no votes made it the panel’s most partisan such vote in years.
The name change still faces a steep climb. The Pentagon’s legal name remains the Department of Defense until both chambers of Congress sign off, and the Senate—where Democratic votes are needed to advance most legislation—is expected to resist.
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