WASHINGTON — When Congress returns to Capitol Hill in September, lawmakers will face a massive to-do list on defense issues, including a stopgap bill to keep the government open through the midterm election, a supplemental funding plan to cover the Iran war, and the fiscal 2027 defense budget.
The Pentagon is betting big on a $1.15 trillion discretionary budget request with a further $350 billion coming from the reconciliation process — together adding up to a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget. But whether the Republican-led Congress can find the political will to pass the full $1.5 trillion sum is very much up in the air, with both chambers in various states of progress.
The House has yet to pass its version of the FY27 defense appropriations bill, having moved the bill through committee in June. But the Senate is even further behind, with Republican and Democrat leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee still at a stalemate on how to balance defense and nondefense spending. As a result, Senate appropriators have not yet released the text of the FY27 defense spending bill.
That situation has had a trickle down effect on passing the National Defense Authorization Act. The House passed the NDAA in July, but Senate Democrats have prevented the upper chamber from bringing its version of the bill to the floor, with members citing the war in Iran and questions about the defense topline as key reasons for blocking the bill.
“I think if we have a solid resolution of the budget, both domestic and defense, we’ll be in a much better position to go ahead,” Sen Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Breaking Defense in July.
Reconciliation is yet another huge question mark for Congress. The House has passed its so-called “Reconciliation 3.0” bill with $60 billion for defense, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has yet to find the votes to push the bill forward in the Senate.
Other moving pieces include:
Acquisition reform at the speed of war
As part of the DoW’s acquisition transformation, streamlined processes must be extended to all companies in the defense industrial base.
- The White House’s supplemental spending request, which included $67 billion in defense funds meant to replenish US stockpiles and backfill money spent on operations. Neither the House nor the Senate have carved out a path forward for securing this funding.
- A continuing resolution that would keep funding at FY26 levels when funding expires on Oct. 1. The House and Senate have each passed separate CR bills that extend until early December, and will have to agree on a final version before the Sept. 30 deadline or risk a government shutdown.
Congress won’t have much time to pass a funding stopgap. The House will be back in session next week before adjourning for a weeklong break for Labor Day, and the Senate won’t return to Capitol Hill until Sept. 14.
That leaves just a couple of weeks until Congress breaks in October for midterm elections — the result of which could further impact how the budget shakes out, as Democrats taking one or both chambers could drastically shift negotiations.
As Congress gets back to work, here’s a look at how lawmakers are approaching a baker’s dozen of key defense issues in pending legislation:
Defense Budget Topline:
Topline budget numbers among the appropriations and authorizing committees aren’t apples to apples, with no single bill containing the whole of national defense spending.
The NDAA — which sanctions funding, but does not actually obligate it — includes the Defense Department as well as defense spending within the Department of Energy, but does not include about $12 billion in national security spending outside the jurisdiction of the House and Senate armed services committees.
Meanwhile, House and Senate defense appropriations bills cover most of the Defense Department and some intelligence-related spending, but not defense spending at the Department of Energy or military construction spending.
President’s Budget: The Trump administration requested $1.15 trillion in its discretionary request, the first defense budget request to top the $1 trillion mark without using mandatory reconciliation funds.
DoD Reconciliation request: The White House is pressing lawmakers to approve another $350 billion in mandatory spending through the reconciliation process. So far, the House has passed a budget resolution that — if adopted by the Senate — would kickstart a reconciliation process with $60 billion for defense. The armed services committees won’t decide where that money will be spent until the budget resolution is passed by both chambers.
House NDAA: Authorizes $1.14 trillion in discretionary spending, fully funding the part of the defense budget request in its jurisdiction. HASC did not include items requested through reconciliation, which will be determined by the armed services committees only if the House and Senate pass a budget resolution greenlighting the reconciliation process.
Senate NDAA: Authorizes $1.14 trillion for discretionary spending, fully funding the president’s topline request. Like HASC, SASC did not address items in the reconciliation request.
House defense appropriations: Includes $1 trillion in discretionary spending, adhering to the president’s budget request because military construction and other spending is funded through different appropriations bills. Appropriators have no stake in the reconciliation process, and reconciliation was not addressed in the bill.
Munitions:
President’s Budget: Much of the department’s funding increase for munitions programs resides within its reconciliation request, with quantities in the discretionary budget for certain key weapons actually decreasing from FY26. For example, the FY27 discretionary budget would fund 267 PAC-3 missiles, down from 310 the previous year. The reconciliation request would add almost 3,000 additional PAC-3 interceptors.
Reconciliation: Includes $47 billion for munitions, with money for ramping up 12 critical legacy munitions and other key weapons efforts.
House NDAA: Includes multiyear procurement authority for 13 critical munitions. It requires a report on the department’s plans to maximize munitions capacity as well as quarterly reports on the munitions inventory. Authorizes munitions spending at roughly the levels of the president’s discretionary request.
Senate NDAA:The Senate Armed Services Committee mandates a briefing on the Pentagon’s munitions strategy, noting that it is “concerned that the Department’s proposals largely focus on expanding output along existing, traditional production lines and do not sufficiently broaden the industrial base or diversify the inventory with affordable, mass producible munitions.” Authorizes multiyear procurement of 19 munitions, and keeps funding for munitions roughly at the levels requested in the discretionary budget.
House defense appropriations: House appropriators included $11.4 billion for the procurement of critical munitions, roughly hewing to the president’s discretionary request, but called the department’s strategy of funding the munitions ramp up through reconciliation “risky and uncoordinated.” Includes multiyear procurement for 14 munitions, with timespans ranging from three to seven years.
RELATED: The Pentagon wants a 188 percent bump for missile procurement. Can industry deliver?
Golden Dome:
President’s Budget: The administration requested $397 million for Golden Dome in the base budget, leaving the bulk of its request in reconciliation.
Reconciliation: The reconciliation request included $17.1 billion for the Golden Dome program, which a summary of the request says “will create irreversible momentum for the GDA program, solidify the program’s foundation, and lock in progress on these complex, long-lead time efforts.”
House NDAA: Fully funds the $397 million in the discretionary request.
Senate NDAA: Fully funds the $397 million in the discretionary request.
House defense appropriations: Fully funds the $397 million in the discretionary request.
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter:
President’s Budget: Includes funding for 32 F-35s: 24 F-35As for the Air Force, six F-35Cs for the Marine Corps and two F-35Cs for the Navy.
Reconciliation: Requests $6.7 billion in additional aircraft procurement funding, to buy a total of 53 planes: 14 F-35A for the Air Force, 10 F-35B for the Marine Corps, 11 F-35C for the Marine Corps, and 18 F-35C for the Navy.
House NDAA: Adheres to the president’s budget request on F-35 procurement, but does not include reconciliation funds.
Senate NDAA: Added $232 million for F-35A procurement, but quantities remain the same as the president’s request at 24 F-35As.
House defense appropriations: Fully funds the discretionary budget request.
E-7 Wedgetail:
President’s Budget: The Air Force initially planned to cancel the E-7 Wedgetail program, but during a May hearing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the Pentagon planned to resuscitate the program and request funding through a budget amendment.
DoD Reconciliation request: Does not address this program.
House NDAA: Adheres to the levels set in the budget request, with a committee staffer telling reporters in May that the committee wanted to see a budget amendment from the White House before making a recommendation to add funding for the program.
Senate NDAA: Includes a provision preventing the DoD from cancelling the E-7 program and restores funding for the effort, adding $1.5 billion.
House defense appropriations: Adds $1.5 billion to fully fund the program, fully funding the program as requested by the department, according to the committee report.
Arleigh Burke-class Destroyers
President’s Budget: Funds a single Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, down from the two to three ships typically procured in a year.
DoD Reconciliation request: Requests $314 million for the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program, according to a DoD budget document.
House NDAA: Adds $1 billion in incremental funding for an additional DDG-51, partially funding a second ship.
SASC NDAA: Adds $2.5 billion for a second destroyer.
House defense appropriations: Adheres to the president’s budget request.
UH-60 Black Hawk
President’s Budget: Includes $32 million for a single UH-60M helicopter.
DoD Reconciliation request: Does not include funding for this program.
House NDAA: Adds $250 million to procure six additional UH-60Ms.
SASC NDAA: Adheres to the president’s request.
House defense appropriations: Adds $493 million to procure additional aircraft, with exact quantities unspecified.
CH-47 Chinook
President’s Budget: Includes $319 million for five Chinook helicopters.
DoD Reconciliation request: Does not include funding for this program.
HASC NDAA: Adds $381 million to procure seven additional CH-47s on top of the five requested by the Pentagon.
SASC NDAA: Adheres to the president’s request.
House defense appropriations: Adds $456 million to procure an unspecified number of additional aircraft,
Foreign Shipbuilding:
President’s Budget: Does not address this issue.
DoD Reconciliation request: Includes $1.85 billion in Navy research and development funds that would be used on “two separate study and procurement efforts” aimed at investigating the ability of allied shipbuilders to build future cruisers, destroyers and frigates. An OMB official told Breaking Defense in May those funds could be used to procure a warship from Japan or South Korea.
House NDAA: Includes a provision that forbids the Pentagon from building a battle force ship in a foreign shipyard.
SASC NDAA: Would remove the presidential waiver on the prohibition on the construction of vessels in foreign shipyards, taking away the president’s ability to build ships in foreign yards for national security purposes. However, it would allow the White House to build two auxiliary ships — a bulk fuel vessel class and a strategic sealift class of vessels — as long as the shipbuilder makes direct capital investments in the United States maritime industrial base so that future ships are built in the US.
House defense appropriations: Prohibits funds appropriated by the bill to be used to build ships in foreign shipyards.
RELATED: Trump opens door for foreign-built Navy ships. It could get complicated.
Space Development Agency and Space Rapid Capabilities Office:
President’s Budget: While not spelled out in the budget documents, the current acting SDA director said in April that the SDA and Space RCO could be eliminated as the Space Force revamps the structure of its acquisition portfolios.
DoD Reconciliation request: Does not address this issue.
HASC NDAA: Permits the elimination of both the SDA and Space RCO.
SASC NDAA: Repeals statutory requirements relating to the SDA and Space RCO, allowing the Defense Department to reorganize its space related agencies and shut down both entities.
House defense appropriations: Did not directly address but included an additional $10 million for the Space RCO for “deep space network integration into Space Force”
Right to Repair:
President’s Budget: While not addressed in the budget request, senior leaders such as Army Secretary Dan Driscoll have repeatedly called on Congress to take action on right to repair legislation, which would give the military greater access to technical data needed for troops to repair their own equipment. Industry has largely been skeptical of right to repair legislation, with key trade groups like the Chamber of Commerce telling Congress to oppose the push.
DoD Reconciliation request: Does not address this issue.
House NDAA: During the House Armed Services Committee markup, lawmakers passed an amendment by Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., which would give the Pentagon default government purpose rights for any technical data or software for which it is under contract.
SASC NDAA: Contains similar provisions as the House NDAA to give the Pentagon default government purpose rights for technical data and software.
House defense appropriations: Does not address.
Share Buybacks and Dividends
President’s Budget: While not addressed in the Pentagon’s budget request or through legislative proposals, the White House in January put forward an executive order tasking the Defense Department with ensuring future contracts include language that would limit share buybacks and dividends if a contractor is underperforming.
House NDAA: An amendment that would have limited share buybacks, offered by Rep. Chris DeLuzio, D-Penn., was offered and withdrawn during the bill’s markup by the House Armed Services Committee.
SASC NDAA: Includes a provision that would ensure that future defense contracts include provisions barring contractors from conducting share buybacks or paying dividends unless they receive a waiver.
House defense appropriations: Does not address
War Department Renaming:
President’s Budget: Although the budget itself does not address this topic, the Pentagon submitted a separate legislative proposal to officially change the department’s name to the “Department of War.”
DoD Reconciliation request: Does not address.
HASC NDAA: During markup, HASC members voted 29-27 down party lines to rename the department, adopting an amendment from Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas.
SASC NDAA: Would rename the Defense Department as the “Department of War.”
House defense appropriations: Does not address.