By suzanne downing 
The US Senate on passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, authorizing roughly $925 billion in national security spending.
The measure cleared after days of amendment disputes and now has a $32 billion increase over the Trump Administration’s original defense funding request.
The legislation includes about $879 billion for the Department of War, nearly $35 billion for national security programs at the Department of Energy, and close to $11 billion for other defense activities.
It adds funding for munitions production, defense infrastructure, and overseas operations in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East, while also boosting cybersecurity and artificial intelligence oversight within the Pentagon.
The Senate’s bill also includes several oversight provisions directed at the Trump administration.
Among them are requirements for certifications before any troop drawdowns in Europe and notifications to Congress before firing any judge advocate generals, measures that reflect Democratic concerns about executive overreach. The legislation also includes reforms to defense contracting and mandates progress reports on the Pentagon’s efforts to achieve a clean financial audit by 2028, following seven consecutive failed audits.
Service members would receive a 3.8% pay raise, and $50 million is allocated to strengthen educational programs for military families.
The Senate also voted to repeal outdated war authorization laws from the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq invasion, mirroring action taken earlier by the House.
The Senate’s bill passed by a vote of 77 to 20, marking one of the most bipartisan approvals of a major defense policy measure in many years.
The House had passed its own $895 billion version a day earlier, on Oct. 8, after a more partisan process that restricted amendment debate and included several “culture war” provisions criticized by Democrats. The House version emphasizes modernization, deterrence, and countering China, while the Senate’s focuses more on oversight and readiness.
Conference committee will now reconcile the differences between the two versions, a process that takes several weeks. Once the conference report is finalized, the House and Senate will vote again on a unified version before sending it to the president’s desk.
Suzanne Downing
A $925 billion defense bill. Are you kidding me? We have a 2+ trillion a year deficit, a 37+ trillion debt, and both combine to devalue our currency and drive inflation. We need a hard look and the Pentagon and at defense contractors. If MAGA, ect expects to be competitive in elections and continues to do little to make economic life better for the average American we will lose. We are winning the culture which is huge. And we are winning in politics. Also huge. But economically we are not. Government at all levels, but especially the feds, is so massive it is bankrupting us. If we are bankrupt there is no money for defense.