The US Senate on Wednesday approved what lawmakers and analysts describe as the largest military spending bill in American history, with a majority of Democrats joining Republicans to pass a roughly $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act that fulfills many of President Donald Trump’s demands while domestic programs face deep cuts.
The measure passed by a 77 to 20 vote. Twenty seven Democratic senators supported the bill, along with independent Sen. Angus King of Maine. Opposition came from 16 Democrats, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and three Republicans. The bill now heads to Trump’s desk after passing the House last week with bipartisan support that included 115 Democrats.
The vote underscores how reliably military spending continues to draw broad support in Congress, even as lawmakers remain deeply divided over social spending, climate policy, labor rights, and the scope of presidential war powers. The NDAA authorizes sweeping increases across nearly every area of the Pentagon’s budget, pushing total US military spending to levels not seen in generations.
According to details cited in the reporting, the bill authorizes $38 billion for aircraft procurement, $34 billion for nuclear defense, $26 billion for shipbuilding, $25 billion for munitions, and $900 million for counternarcotics operations. Service members would receive a 3.8 percent pay raise. The legislation also sets aside $1.4 billion for barracks and family housing construction, hundreds of millions of dollars for new childcare centers and schools, and $577 million for renovating military hospitals and building new medical facilities.
A major share of the funding is directed toward future weapons and emerging technologies. The NDAA includes $142 billion for research and development, including biotechnology, hypersonic weapons, and artificial intelligence. It also provides $500 million for US Israel missile defense cooperation and $1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, while prohibiting taxpayer funds from going to certain Chinese biotechnology companies.
Republican leaders framed the bill as essential to national security and deterrence. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker of Mississippi said, “This year’s NDAA ushers in the most significant acquisition reform in decades and helps the U.S. deter increasingly hostile nations.” He added, “The American people voted for peace through strength, and this NDAA delivers.”
Beyond its size, the bill reflects several of Trump’s policy priorities. It funds weapons systems intended to counter China, provides full funding for National Guard deployments supporting federal immigration enforcement, and increases resources for operations labeled as counternarcotics. At the same time, it removes or excludes provisions opposed by the administration. The final bill strips language that would have restored collective bargaining rights that Trump removed earlier this year from Pentagon employees, permanently ends Defense Department initiatives aimed at addressing climate change, and excludes a measure that would have required health insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization.
Combined with $156 billion included in the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in July, the package pushes projected military spending for fiscal year 2026 into the trillions. The reporting describes this as a new record in absolute terms and a relative level of military expenditure unseen since World War II.
The timing of the Senate vote added to the controversy surrounding the bill. It came just one day after Trump announced what he called a “total and complete blockade” on Venezuelan oil tankers, a move that heightened fears of a wider conflict. Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas described the escalation as “unquestionably an act of war.”
While Congress authorized historic levels of military spending, lawmakers continued to wrestle with efforts to limit Trump’s authority to use force without congressional approval. Senate Democrats have previously backed war powers resolutions aimed at requiring approval for Trump’s airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean and for further military action against Venezuela. Those efforts have repeatedly fallen just short in the Republican controlled Senate.
The defense bill includes a transparency provision tied to those concerns. It demands that the Pentagon release unedited video footage of a September 2 “double-tap” strike on a boat in the Caribbean, an incident that members of both parties have suggested may violate international law. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined another congressional request to release the footage on Tuesday. In response, the NDAA mandates a 25 percent cut to Hegseth’s travel budget if the administration does not comply, and includes a provision limiting funding to the Secretary of Defense until the footage is released.
Critics argue that such measures do little to rein in executive power. Stephen Semmler, a co founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, said, “if the Senate truly cared about Trump seeking congressional approval before starting a war with Venezuela, it wouldn’t have passed a bill authorizing $901 billion in military spending.”
Opposition to the bill also came from progressives in the House. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the legislation was “enabling unchecked executive war powers.”
The bill’s passage reflects a series of political tradeoffs. Republican leaders agreed to include $800 million in assistance to Ukraine over the next two years, repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force for Iraq, and accept language conditioning funding on the release of strike footage. Democratic leadership, in turn, accepted a $1.6 billion cut to climate related spending, an expansion of the administration’s ability to use military resources to enforce immigration laws, and a directive requiring intelligence agencies to review and potentially declassify information about the origins of the COVID 19 virus.
As the NDAA moves to Trump for his signature, the House is expected to vote Wednesday evening on two war powers resolutions. One, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, would block Trump’s airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean. Another bipartisan resolution would require congressional approval before Trump could take direct military action, including land strikes, against Venezuela.
“This year’s NDAA ushers in the most significant acquisition reform in decades and helps the U.S. deter increasingly hostile nations,” Wicker said.
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