Pentagon spending in September included practically $9 million on Alaskan king seize and lobster tails, greater than $200 million in furnishings and $5.3 million in Apple units – just a few of the expenditures that added as much as a record $93 billion price ticket for the month, in accordance with new evaluation revealed by authorities watchdog Open the Books.
September spending at authorities businesses usually dwarfs different months as a result of it marks the tip of the fiscal year. That’s when “use it or lose it” funding guidelines kick in for departments speeding to spend the rest of their finances in order to not forfeit the unused cash and need to ship it again to the Treasury Department.
But in accordance with Open the Books, no federal company has ever spent a lot on grants and contracts in a single month because the Pentagon’s $93.4 billion in September 2025. More than half of that was spent in the final 5 working days of the month, the watchdog stated.
The costly month comes as President Donald Trump has made reducing authorities spending a focus of his second time period, gutting the federal workforce final year with mass layoffs throughout federal businesses. At the identical time, Trump has known as for large will increase to the Pentagon’s finances, posting in January that the 2027 fiscal year finances must be $1.5 trillion – a roughly 50% improve.
“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump stated.
The September 2025 spending included a record $6.6 billion of purchases from overseas governments and foreign-owned companies, smashing the earlier excessive of $5.2 billion from September 2023.
The cash spent on shellfish and steak – greater than $15 million on ribeye, in accordance with Open the Books – was possible for troops on prolonged deployment forward of the present warfare in Iran, specialists stated.
“These are not for parties for (Secretary Pete) Hegseth and his buddies,” stated Jerry McGinn, the director of the Center for the Industrial Base on the Center for Strategic and International Studies suppose tank.
“You’re doing something nice for the troops,” McGinn added.
Often described as a “surf and turf” meal, it’s a practice in navy tradition as a symbolic precursor to deployments, fight operations or prolonged missions. The meals merchandise purchased in September additionally usually cowl vacation meals, together with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, for service members deployed these days.
The steak-and-lobster dinners are supposed to be a thanks to troops. When requested if lobster being served throughout deployments had a spot for morale-boosting functions, one retired Army officer with a number of fight excursions advised NCS, “I mean, it’s always disgusting, but I guess.”
In addition to the $225.6 million in furnishings expenditures – purchases that usually spike in September regardless of presidential administration, in accordance with Open the Books – musical devices price $1.8 million. That included a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of workers’s residence, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 customized handmade flute from the luxurious Japanese model Muramatsu.
McGinn stated authorities businesses usually reserve bulk orders of furnishings and expertise for September to make use of up the remainder of the finances, including “this is not uncommon.”
Because the Department of Defense’s finances was beneath a seamless decision – a funding stopgap from Congress that retains the finances on the earlier fiscal year’s stage till the brand new one is permitted – for a lot of 2025, that additionally possible restricted some Pentagon spending for the primary six months, leaving extra leftover in the second half of the year, McGinn stated.
NCS’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.