Overview
- A procedural rules vote squeaked by 215–211 after several GOP holdouts flipped, clearing the way for final passage in the House.
- The measure authorizes roughly $900–901 billion in Pentagon programs and provides a 3.8% pay raise for service members, with acquisition reforms and base improvements.
- Lawmakers conditioned a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget on the Pentagon delivering unedited videos and execute orders from the Sept. 2 Caribbean boat strikes.
- The bill authorizes $400 million per year in Ukraine security assistance for the next two years and sets minimum U.S. force levels in Europe and South Korea.
- Conservatives protested the absence of an anti–central bank digital currency provision, while the package cuts DEI and climate programs and repeals Iraq‑era war authorizations.