WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives passed a bill early Friday that would allocate roughly $832 billion in defense funding for fiscal year 2026, including a boost in pay for troops as well as increased research and development spending.
The Department of Defense Appropriations Act cleared the lower chamber in a 221-209 vote, with five Democrats joining almost every Republican in support.
Reps. Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Adam Gray (D-Calif.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) all voted in favor of the measure.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) opposed it on the GOP side.
Before the bill was passed, Greene and Massie joined “Squad” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) to try to cut $500 million in funding for a cooperative program that boosts Israel’s missile defense systems — only for the measure to fail in a 422-6 vote.
The House’s bill included provisions to bolster funding for active, National Guard, and reserve military personnel with a 3.8% pay bump for service members.
It also would slash $7 billion from the current operation and maintenance budget, lowering spending in that area to $283 billion.
At least $148 billion will also go toward Defense Department research, development, and testing. Another $1.15 billion will help crack down on international traffickers and fund counter-drug programs.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that the legislation “supports modernization and fundamentally reforms defense acquisition by cutting red tape, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles, and encouraging innovation.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced its own version of the defense spending bill July 9, with additional provisions to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding research carried out by foreign adversaries, including Russia and China.
The House measure comes only a few weeks after congressional Republicans gave the thumbs-up to a separate defense plan worth more than $150 billion tucked into President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, $25 billion of which was set aside for a “Golden Dome” missile defense system in the US.
The president’s budget balanced the increased funding from the reconciliation bill with the annual appropriations process to tout more than $1 trillion in total defense spending in fiscal year 2026.
