Pentagon spending binge set record in final days of fiscal year

Pentagon spending in September included nearly $9 million on Alaskan king crab and lobster tails, more than $200 million in furniture and $5.3 million in Apple devices – just some of the expenditures that added up to a record $93 billion price tag for the month, according to new analysis published by government watchdog Open the Books.

September spending at government agencies typically dwarfs other months because it marks the end of the fiscal year. That’s when “use it or lose it” funding rules kick in for departments rushing to spend the remainder of their budget so as to not forfeit the unused money and have to send it back to the Treasury Department.

But according to Open the Books, no federal agency has ever spent so much on grants and contracts in a single month as the Pentagon’s $93.4 billion in September 2025. More than half of that was spent in the final five working days of the month, the watchdog said.

The expensive month comes as President Donald Trump has made cutting government spending a focal point of his second term, gutting the federal workforce last year with mass layoffs across federal agencies. At the same time, Trump has called for huge increases to the Pentagon’s budget, posting in January that the 2027 fiscal year budget should be $1.5 trillion – a roughly 50% increase.

“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 said.

The September 2025 spending included a record $6.6 billion of purchases from foreign governments and foreign-owned businesses, smashing the previous high of $5.2 billion from September 2023.

The money spent on shellfish and steak – more than $15 million on ribeye, according to Open the Books – was likely for troops on extended deployment ahead of the current war in Iran, experts said.

“These are not for parties for (Secretary Pete) Hegseth and his buddies,” said Jerry McGinn, the director of the Center for the Industrial Base at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

“You’re doing something nice for the troops,” McGinn added.

Often described as a “surf and turf” meal, it’s a tradition in military culture as a symbolic precursor to deployments, combat operations or extended missions. The food products bought in September also typically cover holiday meals, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, for service members deployed those days.

The steak-and-lobster dinners are meant to be a thank you to troops. When asked if lobster being served during deployments had a place for morale-boosting purposes, one retired Army officer with multiple combat tours told CNN, “I mean, it’s always disgusting, but I guess.”

In addition to the $225.6 million in furniture expenditures – purchases that typically spike in September regardless of presidential administration, according to Open the Books – musical instruments cost $1.8 million. That included a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade flute from the luxury Japanese brand Muramatsu.

McGinn said government agencies typically reserve bulk orders of furniture and technology for September to use up the rest of the budget, adding “this is not uncommon.”

Because the Department of Defense’s budget was under a continuing resolution – a funding stopgap from Congress that keeps the budget at the previous fiscal year’s level until the new one is approved – for much of 2025, that also likely restricted some Pentagon spending for the first six months, leaving more leftover in the second half of the year, McGinn said.

CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.

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