The Department of Defense (DOD) may have to scale back purchases of traditional weapons systems if Congress does not approve a proposed $350 billion reconciliation package that underpins the Pentagon’s fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request, its chief technology officer (CTO) said.
Speaking at a Hudson Institute event on June 12, Emil Michael, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the department’s CTO, said the Pentagon would “not be able to buy as much or move as fast” without the proposed funding.
Republicans used reconciliation during the FY 2026 budget cycle to approve roughly $150 billion in defense funding. Some lawmakers later criticized the Pentagon for spending the money within a single fiscal year rather than spreading it over a decade as originally envisioned.
If Congress rejects the 2027 reconciliation funding request, Michael said DOD would need to revisit its priorities and may turn to lower-cost autonomous platforms.
“Congress does appropriations. That is what they do. We receive them and we do the best we can,” he said. “If we are forced into that position, just make trade-offs. How much are we willing to sacrifice in place of low-cost autonomous weapons?”
The Pentagon’s funding strategy has drawn skepticism from top Republicans in Congress. Those concerns have intensified as lawmakers weigh whether the funding will win congressional approval.
Most recently, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who chairs the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said during a hearing that another reconciliation bill containing defense funding is “really not an option.”
President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post called on all “Republicans in Congress to IMMEDIATELY advance and pass the forthcoming $350 Billion Reconciliation Bill.”
“No games, no delays, and no weak compromises! Do this ASAP,” he wrote.
Michael said the department remains open to discussing its plans with lawmakers.
DOD shifts away from Anthropic
Michael also said the Pentagon has shifted at least two-thirds of its artificial intelligence (AI) work away from Anthropic amid an ongoing dispute over restrictions the company places on military uses of its AI models.
The conflict stems from Anthropic’s refusal to allow its AI models to be used in mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The dispute escalated after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to sever ties with Anthropic and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company as a supply chain risk. Anthropic has since filed two lawsuits alleging illegal retaliation, while the government has defended the designation as lawful and based on national security concerns.
DOD gave the military and defense contractors a 180-day phase-out period to remove all Anthropic products from their networks.
Michael said the dispute underscored the need for vendor diversity and that the Pentagon plans to maintain multiple AI providers.
“Why were we having one provider?” Michael said. “No matter what, we will have more than one provider. We will always have two to three.”
Michael added that DOD’s standard for AI providers will be support for “all lawful use cases.”