Defense industry leaders align with Trump admin plans in closed-door strategy session on defense spending

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EXCLUSIVE:High-level Trump administration officials, including chief of staff Susie Wiles, met Thursday morning at theWhite Housewith key defense industry stakeholders, and White House officials laid out their vision for the House of Representatives’ current budget reconciliation package related to crucial funding for the Iran war.

Wiles, Department of War and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) leaders and leaders from 17 top defense contractors including Raytheon, BAE Systems, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Palantir and others, were in attendance for the meeting, according to a Trump administration official.

The Trump administration representatives laid out their vision for what is being called “Reconciliation 3.0.”

The purpose of the meeting was to ensure that all the companies were aligned on the importance of this reconciliation package being passed, which, according to the administration official, they were.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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The budget reconciliation process allows the party in powerin Congress to passsweeping fiscal policy legislation while completely sidelining the other side — in this case, Democrats.

It does so bybypassing the Senate filibuster— which needs 60 votes to overcome — allowing the upper chamber to line up with the House’s own simple majority threshold.

Reconciliation 3.0 includes $73 billion forPentagonand intelligence funding, which is largely tied to replenishing U.S.weapons caches for the Iran war.

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U.S.airmen prepare to load GBU-31 munition systems onto F-15E Strike Eagles within the U.S.Central Command area of responsibility Dec.19, 2025, in support of Operation Hawkeye Strike.(U.S.Air Force Photo/Reuters)

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Further, the defense company leaders spoke favorably about the White House’s approach and said they were working hard to advocate for lawmakers on the Hill to pass theHouse budget resolutionbefore the imminent August recess.

The House has passed a framework withcash targetsfor relevant committees, but now those committees need to provide details about how that money will be spent.The main players are the HouseArmed ServicesCommittees and the House Intelligence Committee.

Beth Van Duyne, Steve Scalise and Mike Johnson stand at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attends a news conference at the U.S.Capitol in Washington, D.C.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The president has vigorously advocated to get the deal done.

“I am asking all House Republicans to VOTE YES this week on the Budget Resolution, which is an important first step towards getting a Budget Bill,” he said Monday on TRUTH Social.

Peter D�