The House passed its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 231-to-196 Wednesday, after two days of debating around 300 amendments.
Four Republicans voted against the bill, while one did not vote. Meanwhile, 17 Democrats voted for the bill, while four did not vote.
The House version would authorize $25.4 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and the original version of the bill would codify NNSA plans for plutonium pit production at two locations: Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This authorization is $400 million less than what the Senate would authorize.
The Senate, meanwhile, has moved more slowly in favor of voting to confirm nominees and to focus on singular amendments for longer, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) amendment on the Jeffrey Epstein files. As of deadline for the Exchange Monitor, the Senate had not moved forward with its version of the bill.
Congress continues to work with one eye upon the calendar, as the federal government will shut down Sept. 30 unless an appropriations package or a stopgap continuing budget resolution is passed.
While many nuclear-related amendments were submitted, the House Rules committee only allowed five to make it to the House floor. All five were agreed to by voice vote on the first day of debate, which were the following:
- An amendment by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) to direct the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study into the cost, feasibility and benefits of deploying small modular reactors at defense installations.
- An amendment by Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), chair of the House Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces, to require both the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to submit a joint report on the dismantlement of legacy nuclear weapons, and any plans to dispose of any excess plutonium
- An amendment by Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) to change the language in the bill to prioritize deployment of advanced nuclear reactor technology at Department of Defense installations.
- An amendment by Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) that authorizes the NNSA administrator to accelerate the replacement of aging facilities at the Pantex Plant that abuts his district.
- An amendment by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, to extend to NNSA the “Other Transaction Authority,” or the power of federal agencies to enter simplified, flexible agreements separate from traditional contracts or grants to bypass standard government procurement procedures.
Amendments that did not make the House floor included a bipartisan one from Reps. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) that would expand the NNSA authority to develop counter drone technology. This legislation was proposed in March. Also excluded from the House floor were two amendments to modify Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, otherwise known as the section pertaining to “123 agreements,” or agreements of civil nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and other countries, including adding zero-enrichment framework for enriching uranium and renewing existing agreements by 2029.
During debate, “personalities were exchanged” – a Congressional term referring to unstatesmanlike personal attacks – in this case about President Donald Trump and the budget submissions by his administration. The Speaker Pro Tempore many times reminded members to refrain from using profanity or engaging in personal attacks about President Trump.
“Our job was made difficult by a ridiculously late submission of a budget by the budget office,” Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said in his testimony on Tuesday. “Nonetheless, we overcame that challenge with this year’s mark.”
Courtney added the bill includes his amendment that authorizes a $1 billion plus up to the Virginia-class submarine program, which he said was needed to address a serious “shortfall” in the program’s budget office and will “ensure full authorization of two Virginia[-class] subs in fiscal 2026.” The bill also includes incremental funding to the Columbia-class submarine program, he said.
“Today a total of four Virginia-subs are slated to be delivered in 2025 and 2026,” Courtney said, growing the industry’s “backlog to 21 boats” to “overmatch our adversary’s nuclear feats and fulfill our AUKUS commitments to Australia.”
Referring to AUKUS, the trilateral pact between the U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia to help Australia build up the capability to operate, maintain and ultimately build its own nuclear-powered attack submarines, Courtney added that he and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) visited Australia in August “and saw firsthand that nation’s massive investment in their navy in anticipation, and we must act to keep our end further.”
DesJarlais also spoke to the nuclear triad and this year’s NDAA’s commitment to its “modernization,” as well as to the Golden Dome missile defense initiative. He also gave a shoutout to the bill’s new Rapid Capabilities program within NNSA “to enhance our ability to respond to growing nuclear threats.”
“As China’s recent military parade demonstrated, our adversaries worked to deploy new nuclear weapons,” DesJarlais said. “U.S. capabilities can take over a decade to design and develop. This bill would provide innovative and rapid acquisition approaches to address this and ensure our deterrent continues to keep pace with the dynamic threat environment.”
Uncharacteristically, Rep. John Garamendi (D- Calif.) pointed out in testimony that to spend $1 billion to retrofit the jet gifted to Trump by the Qatari royal family, that “by the way, the money comes out of the Sentinel program, of which I have a lot of problems. Perhaps that’s good. Nonetheless the fiscal discipline here is not available.”