WASHINGTON, D.C. — Leaders on Capitol Hill have unveiled the text of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a massive defense package that funds and provides direction for the Pentagon in the next fiscal year.
The more than 3,000-page legislation, amounting to over $9 billion, is the result of weeks of bipartisan negotiations in a divided Washington.
The 2026 NDAA calls for $901 billion in national security spending — about eight billion dollars above President Trump’s request. Aside from spending, it would repeal sanctions on Syria, slow any troop withdrawals from Europe and undo what Republicans call “woke policies” at the Pentagon.
The proposed legislation provides enlisted servicemembers with a 4% pay raise. Republicans say it also expands counter-drone defenses while advancing the “Golden Dome” and America’s nuclear deterrence and new nuclear power technologies.
“This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps advance President Trump and Republicans’ Peace Through Strength Agenda by 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,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in a press release Sunday.
It also imposes stricter limits on U.S. investments in adversarial countries like China to prevent American money from boosting military or surveillance technology.
“President Trump has made clear the past few decades of investments propping up Communist China’s aggression must come to an end, and this bill includes important guardrails to protect America’s long-term investments, economic interests, and sensitive data,” Johnson said.
Ukraine is getting a boost in support as well — the NDAA sets aside $400 million for 2026 and another $400 million for 2027. That funding is earmarked for high-priority weapons built by U.S. companies.
Tucked inside the package is a provision that withholds a portion of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon provides full, unedited video of the recent Caribbean boat strikes to the House and Senate Armed Services committees. Secretary Hegseth and the Pentagon have recently come under fire over ordering a second strike on an already-impaired vessel on Sept. 2.
In addition to the NDAA, several other spending bills need to be finalized and passed before Jan. 30 to avoid a partial government shutdown. Analysts say lawmakers might combine some of the remaining spending bills in an attempt to pass them quickly.
“When Congress came back into session and stopped the shutdown, they passed three of the 12 needed bills. Now they’re trying to pass another five by attaching four to the defense bill, and they’re trying to get that done by the end of the year because that would leave four more that they have to tackle in January by the end of the month,” said Dr. Todd Belt, professor and director of the Political Management Master’s Program at George Washington University. “The reason you try to do it this way is it makes it harder for somebody to vote against all of these bills because they would be holding up a lot of different things.”
However, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are seeing some pushback from their own members because of earmarks within the package. Earmarks are provisions in legislation that direct federal funds to specific projects, localities or organizations, often requested by members of Congress for their constituents.
“There are three Republicans who have come out against the bill because of the specific earmarks- that Republicans are supposed to be against- that are in this bill, and they don’t want to pass it,” said Belt.
Despite controversy surrounding the earmarks, Republican leaders in the House are positioning the 2026 NDAA for a vote later this week.
