<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs to be updated . Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . (November 2017) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs to be updated . Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . (November 2017) </Td> </Tr> <P> The military budget is the portion of the discretionary United States federal budget allocated to the Department of Defense, or more broadly, the portion of the budget that goes to any military - related expenditures . The military budget pays the salaries, training, and health care of uniformed and civilian personnel, maintains arms, equipment and facilities, funds operations, and develops and buys new items . The budget funds four branches of the U.S. military: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force . In FY 2017, the Congressional Budget Office reported spending of $590 billion for defense, about 15% of the federal budget . For the FY 2019 president Donald Trump proposed an increase to the military to $681.1 billion . </P> <P> The following is historical spending on defense from 1996 - 2015, spending for 2014 - 15 is estimated . The Defense Budget is shown in billions of dollars and total budget in trillions of dollars . The percentage of the total U.S. federal budget spent on defense is indicated in the third row, and change in defense spending from the previous year in the final row . </P>

What percent of the american budget is spent on defense