Trump’s move to redirect funding also risks falling flat with budget hawks who want bold action to shrink the overall Pentagon budget.

Steve Ellis, president of spending watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, chided the administration for not seeking a smaller budget and exempting a raft of weapons that he argued constitute “some of the most wasteful pots of spending.”

“Shuffling $50 billion within the Pentagon budget and calling it a cut is little more than a charlatan’s shell game, moving wasteful Pentagon spending around to trick taxpayers,” Ellis said in a statement. “We’re not fooled.”