House approves $832 billion Defense funding bill

The House early on Friday approved legislation allocating roughly $832 billion in funding for defense programs for fiscal year 2026, just weeks after Republicans approved a separate $150 billion plan to advance President Trump’s defense priorities. 

The GOP-led chamber approved the bill 221-209, mostly along party lines. Five Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while three Republicans opposed it.

The measure marks only the second appropriations bill that Republicans have been able to pass for 2026, after GOP appropriators said the effort to pass Trump’s tax and spending cuts megabill dominated the party’s focus over the past few months. 

The bill passed Thursday would boost funding for active, reserve, and National Guard military personnel by $6.6 billion above current levels, to a total of $189 billion. It also allows for an increase of 3.8 percent in basic pay for military personnel that would take effect beginning in January.

It calls for $174 billion for procurement, up $6.5 billion from current levels, and would provide $283 billion for operation and maintenance, or a roughly $7 billion decrease below 2025 levels.

The bill also includes about $148 billion for research, development, test and evaluation, as well as boosts for Defense Department health programs and overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid programs.

The bill comes after Republicans greenlit additional defense dollars as part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” earlier this month. 

That plan called for $25 billion to fund Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system, with billions more aimed at items like shipbuilding and the maritime industrial base, munitions and nuclear deterrence. 

Democrats have risen in sharp opposition to the overall defense appropriations plan, which also seeks to codify Trump’s actions targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, advance prohibitions for funding for abortion-related travel, and block funds for gender-affirming surgeries.

However, the party also managed to secure some changes during consideration in the House Appropriations Committee dealing with recent controversies at the Defense Department under the Trump administration. 

One measure was aimed at blocking armed forces from being deployed for law enforcement and another amendment that was later adopted sought to prohibit transmission of classified information over unsecured networks.