WASHINGTON — The US House of Representatives passed the annual defense bill Wednesday, outlining a $900 billion budget that would give troops a 4% pay bump, help counter China and Russia, support new technologies like the Golden Dome missile defense system and promote military readiness, among other provisions.
The House voted 312-112 to adopt the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026.
The Senate will have to approve the bill before sending it to President Trump’s desk for a signature, though an earlier version cleared the upper chamber in October.
It’s expected to take it up next week.
Before the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had touted that the more than 3,000-page bill was aimed at “codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos.”
That last effort will be aided by a return to “merit-based” promotions in the military’s ranks and admissions to US service academies.
The executive actions included orders to end DEI programs, declare a national emergency at the southern border, spur innovation for the US defense industrial base, build a Golden Dome missile defense system and unleash American “drone dominance.”
The DEI cuts total roughly $40 million by eliminating offices and programs previously funded. Another $1.6 million in climate-related spending will also be cut.
Funds for defense will also go toward key allies like Israel, which will get $60 million in American missiles for its Iron Dome defense system.
Ukraine will receive $800 million through 2027 as part of a security assistance initiative that allows Kyiv to buy weapons for its military from US companies.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) added in a statement that the bill would also reform “the Pentagon’s broken, bureaucratic acquisition process so that our troops can quickly get the tools they need to deter our enemies, instead of waiting up to a decade while our adversary’s field new technologies within months.”
In particular, there are further provisions to ensure the Chinese government can’t acquire land near US military bases or sensitive installations and banning coordination with Beijing or Moscow Chinese military companies engaged in biotechnology research and development without a waiver.
A provision backed by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) notifying members of Congress if they are the target of a US counterintelligence operation was also tucked into the must-pass bill.
The legislation also repeals authorization for use of military force in Iraq that preceded US involvement there in 2003 — and removes sanctions on Syria that had been imposed by Congress during Trump’s first administration.
And lawmakers are threatening to chip away at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s travel budget if he doesn’t hand over unedited video footage of a US military strike on a suspected narco-trafficking boat in the Caribbean.
But a provision allowing active-duty military service members coverage for in vitro fertilization procedures was stripped out.
