The United States House of Representatives has passed a far-reaching defence policy bill authorising a record $901bn in annual military spending.
The tally in Wednesday’s vote saw 312 lawmakers vote in favour of passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with 112 opposing the bill. It has now been sent to the Senate for consideration and is expected to pass next week.
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The $901bn in defence spending for the 2026 fiscal year is $8bn more than US President Donald Trump requested in May this year.
The sweeping 3,086-page bill, which was unveiled on Sunday, includes typical NDAA provisions on defence acquisitions to compete militarily with rivals such as China and Russia. It also includes measures to improve living conditions for American troops, including an almost 4 percent pay rise and improvements in military base housing.
Lawmakers also forced the inclusion of several provisions cementing Washington’s commitment to Europe’s defence in the face of Russian aggression, including $400m in military assistance to Ukraine in each of the next two years to help repel Russia’s invasion.
Another measure requires the Pentagon to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted.
This year’s bill, however, also cut several programmes reviled by Trump, including about $1.6bn in funding to initiatives focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as climate change.
The legislation will now head to the Senate, with leaders aiming to pass the bill before lawmakers depart for a holiday break. Trump will then sign it into law once it reaches the White House.
Bill puts pressure on Defense Secretary Hegseth over transparency of attacks
The NDAA is one of a few major pieces of legislation to typically enjoy broad bipartisan support, having made it through Congress every year since its enactment in 1961.
This year’s process was rockier than usual, coming at a time of growing friction between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration over the management of the US military.
Before the vote, members of both parties urged their lawmakers to support the vital defence legislation, even if they objected to individual provisions contained within it.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Washington, DC, Mike Hanna, said that while there was “some significant dissent”, the bill still passed “very easily indeed”.
Also tucked into the NDAA are several measures pushing back against the Department of Defense, notably a demand for more transparency on deadly attacks carried out by the US military on alleged drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in recent months.
Hanna said a “very noticeable” part of the bill threatens to take away 25 percent of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel funding unless he discloses more information on the US attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, including allowing lawmakers to review unedited video of the strikes and the orders given to carry out the attack.
“This is a very strong move by the House forcing, it would appear, the defence secretary to provide full details of these attacks,” Hanna said.
At least 86 people have been killed across 22 known strikes since the Trump administration announced the first attack in early September.
The president has depicted them as a necessary counter-narcotics effort, even though they are widely considered illegal under both international and US law.
Hardline conservative lawmakers had expressed frustration that the NDAA did not do more to cut US commitments overseas, including in Europe.
Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers responded, saying “we need a ready, capable and lethal fighting force”.
“The threats to our nation, especially those from China, are more complex and challenging than at any point in the last 40 years,” Rogers said.
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith, said that while the bill does not do enough to rein in the Trump administration, it’s a “step in the right direction towards reasserting the authority of Congress”.
“The biggest concern I have is that the Pentagon, being run by [Secretary Hegseth] and by President Trump, is simply not accountable to Congress or accountable to the law,” Smith said.