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The Senate on Oct. 9 <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2296">passed</a> the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2026, an annual bill that is <a href="https://eangus.org/what-is-the-ndaa/">considered</a> “must-pass” legislation for national security and the U.S. military.

The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/s2296/BILLS-119s2296rs.pdf">1,454-page bill</a> would authorize an annual defense budget of <a href="https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy2026_ndaa_executive_summary.pdf">$924.7 billion</a>, with $878 billion authorized for the Department of War and $35 billion authorized for the Department of Energy, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The bill itself does not actually fund the departments—such funding is provided in “appropriations” bills passed separately—but rather ensures the legal continuity of defense programs and agencies, and allows them to use future funding for various purposes.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 70 yeas to 20 nays, an unusual moment of agreement between the two parties amid an ongoing partisan standoff that has shut the government since Oct. 1. The bill has usually commanded large bipartisan support when introduced on the floor.

“My colleagues and I have prioritized reindustrialization and the structural rebuilding of the arsenal. … Accordingly, we have set forth historic reforms to modernize the Pentagon’s budgeting and acquisition operations,” <a href="https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/press-releases/sasc-completes-markup-of-national-defense-authorization-act-for-fiscal-year-2026">wrote</a> Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, upon release of the bill from his committee in July.

Passage of the bill had previously been held up as Democrats sought an amendment process in order to thwart some recent actions of the Trump administration.

These amendments involve repealing the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force against Iraq, which was used by President George W. Bush to conduct the Iraq War; banning the National Guard of various jurisdictions from assisting federal law enforcement, as President Donald Trump has done in Washington, D.C., over Democratic objections; and prohibiting the U.S. Air Force from customizing a Boeing 747-8 jet gifted by the State of Qatar for use as Air Force One, as Trump has sought to do.

Each of these amendments failed on the floor, as they require 60 votes to be considered, and Democrats have only 47 members in the body. Some Republicans, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)—a libertarian who is generally critical of war powers—voted with Democrats, but did not bring the amendments close to passage. Separately, a “manager’s amendment” with 50 uncontroversial changes to the bill was passed before the final bill.

Apart from overall authorization, the bill includes several reforms to national defense. It extends an initiative for U.S. support for Ukraine during its war against Russia until 2028, authorizes another $500 million for that program, and requires the United States to provide intelligence support to Ukraine. The bill also authorizes a 3.8 percent pay increase for military service members, the purchase of five Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines and 15 landing ships to bring Marines to war zones from the sea, and the purchase of 34 more F-35A fighter jets.

The bill does not include provisions to formally rename the Department of Defense to the “Department of War,” as the president has sought to do by executive order. Only Congress may change the legal name of the department.

The bill will need to be passed by the House of Representatives, which has already <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3838">passed</a> its own version of the bill with some differences. Thus, a “conference” process to reconcile differences will ensue, which has usually occurred with this type of bill. Once a word-for-word compromise is reached, both chambers will need to pass that version before it can be presented to Trump and signed into law.

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/senate-passes-924-billion-defense-policy-bill-for-fiscal-2026-post-5927297">The Epoch Times</a></em>

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