Overview
- The newly enacted FY2026 NDAA follows a 77–20 Senate vote and authorizes a roughly $901 billion defense topline, including a 3.8% pay raise for service members.
- Lawmakers made acquisition reform the centerpiece, creating portfolio-level program oversight, emphasizing off‑the‑shelf solutions, easing compliance for small commercial firms and launching the DIU BOOST transition program.
- The law backs allies with $400 million for Ukraine in both 2026 and 2027, establishes a $175 million Baltic Security Initiative and sets floors of 76,000 U.S. troops in Europe and 28,500 in South Korea while protecting the NATO supreme commander role.
- Congress tightened oversight of recent maritime strikes by withholding 25% of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until unedited strike videos and execute orders are turned over to the armed services committees.
- The measure repeals the 1991 and 2002 Iraq AUMFs and leaves out some debated items, including expanded TRICARE IVF coverage, while retaining a military aircraft location-transmission waiver that drew bipartisan safety objections.