The Senate Armed Services Committee released bill language for its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would set the spending cap for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) at $26.87 billion.
That is over $400 million more than the House Armed Services Committee authorized in its version of the NDAA that advanced out of committee 55-2 late Tuesday.
For fiscal 2025, the NNSA received $25.3 billion, and in the 2026 energy and water appropriations bill released by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, which advanced out of the subcommittee on Monday and will be marked up by the full committee Thursday, the NNSA would receive $25.3 billion as well.
The Senate did a closed markup of the NDAA late last week and reported passing the bill out of committee Friday, July 11. Armed Services chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) filed the bill and released its language on Wednesday.
“This year’s National Defense Authorization Act represents a strong, bipartisan commitment to ensuring our military remains focused on its core mission: defending the United States against the growing threats we face around the world,” Reed said in a statement, citing “strategic competition with China and Russia” as one of the threats.
According to the bill’s text, the Senate would authorize $21.8 billion for weapons activities. That is $1.8 billion more than the White House’s budget request, and about $1.3 billion more than the House would authorize in its version of the NDAA.
The Senate would set the spending cap for defense nuclear nonproliferation at $2.2 billion, about half a billion more than the White House requested and the House would authorize.
The spending limit for naval reactors would be $2.2 billion, about $200 million more than the House would authorize and $100 million less than the White House requested.
The bill has a $878.7 billion topline for DoD and $35.2 billion for Department of Energy programs. On July 11, senior congressional officials told reporters the $32 billion topline increase included adding about $8.5 billion for shipbuilding.
The Senate’s NDAA also authorizes the procurement of five Columbia-class submarines and $2.02 billion for another Virginia-class submarine, which is $1.2 billion more than the White House’s 2026 request. It also authorized a $2 billion increase for “restoration of full funding” of continued development work for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program.
The boost brings SASC’s total authorization for Sentinel up to $4.65 billion, according to the bill text, and SASC also included a provision setting a date for the Northrop Grumman-built to reach initial operational capability by fiscal 2033.
The annual NDAA, which is not an appropriations bill, sets policy and spending limits for defense agencies, including the NNSA, which is part of DOE. This year, the Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery (SPEED) Act, meant for expediting acquisition reform in the Department of Defense, would act as a “shell” for both the House and Senate NDAAs, meaning combine the two bills, according to senior congressional officials in a virtual press briefing last week.
