Budget Realities Hit Trump's Golden Dome Missile Plan

Pentagon officials push ahead with the Golden Dome homeland defense plan, but a skeptical Republican-led Congress questions funding through reconciliation, a path Trump intends to use for hundreds of billions. The program faces cost uncertainties (estimates from hundreds of billions to trillions), a 2028 deployment milestone tied to a layered, AI-connected system, and potential resistance to the reconciliation route, forcing the Pentagon to consider regular-budget funding or alternative strategies.