The House late on Thursday voted 221-209 to pass its $831.5 billion fiscal 2026 defense appropriations bill.
The legislation was crafted by House appropriators before receiving full budget details from the Donald Trump administration and represents a flat spending level with fiscal 2025, although it aligns with the White House’s plan to factor in reconciliation funds to achieve a $1 trillion total national security topline for fiscal 2026.
“The passage of the FY ‘26 Defense Appropriations Act advances our national security goals by investing in the platforms and programs that enhance America’s military dominance,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, said in a statement. “The bill makes innovation a priority by expanding programs I have championed that rapidly deploy cutting-edge, difference making systems into the hands of our warfighters,”
The House’s defense spending bill includes $36.9 billion to build 28 ships, $8.5 billion for 69 F-35 aircraft, covering 42 F-35As, 14 F-35Cs and 13 F-35Bs, $4.2 billion to support sixth-generation aircraft development, and $13 billion to support the Golden Dome missile defense project. F-35s can carry nuclear weapons, and the F-35A is scheduled to carry the B61-12 gravity bomb.
Many Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, including HAC-D Ranking Member Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), had previously voiced their concerns with the bill citing the lack of budget details provided to the panel, the exclusion of funding for Ukraine security assistance and the addition of GOP-led “poison pill provisions,” to include measures limiting servicemembers’ ability to travel to seek abortion-related care and anti-LGBT provisions.
“For the first time in modern history, the Defense Appropriations Act was written without the submission of the President’s budget request – that makes this bill an incomplete product,” McCollum said in a statement.
Nearly all House Democrats voted against the bill, besides Reps. Don Davis (D-N.C.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Adam Gray (D-Calif.) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), while three Republicans, Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), also opposed the legislation.
“We need to eliminate [members holding] individual stocks, because we’ve got a lot of members that own a lot of stock and war is good for business,” Burchett said in a social media post.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published this article.