The American taxpayer spent nearly half a billion dollars deploying federal troops to U.S. cities in 2025, CBO finds

A new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), released Jan. 28, provides the first comprehensive accounting of the federal government’s push to utilize military assets for domestic law enforcement. The nonpartisan analysis, in response to a request for information from Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), reveals that between June 2025 and December 2025, the cost of mobilizing National Guard and active-duty Marine Corps personnel to six major American cities totaled approximately $496 million.