WASHINGTON — The U.S. House narrowly passed the annual defense policy bill last week, authorizing an unprecedented $1.15 trillion in defense spending. The historic and intentional increase is the brainchild of House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers.
House passage marks a win for Rogers and Republicans as they work to boost defense spending under President Donald Trump, but it also shows a breakdown of the usual bipartisan bill that most Democrats opposed this year. The vote was 216-212.
“There’s a reason we do the authorization every year for the Defense Department, and that is, the threats evolve; they’re constantly changing,” Rogers, R-Saks, told Alabama Daily News in an interview. “We need to constantly be on top of what’s happening around the world and what’s happening with our military to make sure that we keep them in a healthy, strong position.”
The National Defense Authorization Act outlines the Pentagon’s annual spending and priorities. This year’s measure would raise pay for service members by 5-7%. It also officially renames the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Rogers told ADN that when he talked to President Donald Trump about crafting the NDAA, he emphasized the need to increase baseline defense spending. This year’s bill raises the baseline spending from around $900 billion to $1.15 trillion.
“That’s massive,” the Alabama Republican said. “So that’s important for the country to see and for the world to see to show that we’re serious about getting after strengthening our military.”
But Democrats are not as supportive of the big price tag of the bill, especially in the wake of the Iran war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified last week that the war has cost about $37.5 billion.
“It is outrageous,” U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, told ADN in an interview. “It is the largest amount that we have ever seen requested by far, and that’s in addition to money that’s already, you know at their disposal. So we have a significant problem with that.”
U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, called voting in favor of the NDAA “more timely than ever” as the war escalates.
House Republicans also added a slew of conservative priorities to the bill, such as parts of the SAVE America Act, prohibiting gender-affirming care and allowing servicemembers to carry personal firearms on military bases. Democrats balked at those additions.
“They tried to attach a bill that has nothing to do with the military, nothing to do with military funding, in an effort to advance one of the president’s agenda items, which is the Save Act,” Figures said. “And so that is something that we simply could not support.”
Lawmakers did block other conservative amendments, such as halting aid to Ukraine. U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, was the only Alabama member to vote in favor of that amendment. Figures and Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, did join with Republicans to block transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports at Department of Defense schools.
The fiscal year 2027 NDAA focuses on expanding the defense industrial base, which is the network of organizations that supply the U.S. military with equipment and services.
“Our defense industrial base has shrunk from 51 prime defense contractors to six,” Rogers told ADN. “We got a lot of stuff we’ve got to start making again in this country, and we need more people in the defense industry to help us make it. That’s what this new money is about.”
Billions authorized for Alabama
Alabama’s military footprint stands to benefit greatly from the bill, with about $4.5 billion authorized for defense projects in the state.
The authorization includes $450 million for the new Space Command headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, $53 million for an access control point at Anniston Army Depot and $44 million toward expanding Maxwell Air Force Base’s elementary and middle school.
“We’re trying to develop more of that facility’s industrial complex because they need another access point,” Rogers said of the Anniston access control project.
Anniston Army Depot
- Access Control Point: $53,000,000
- Consolidated Shipping and Receiving Facility: $5,400,000
- Welding Shop: $4,940,000
Redstone Arsenal
- Space Force Operational Facility: $250,000,000
- USSPACECOM HQ: $450,000,000
- Authorized Air Force Construction: $2,050,000,000
- Power Generation and Microgrid Installation: $90,000,000
- Power Generation and Microgrid Investment Program: $90,000,000
Maxwell Air Force Base
- Maxwell Elementary/Middle School Addition: $44,000,000
- 42nd Medical Group: Prohibition on Discontinuing Educational and Developmental Intervention Services
- Military Housing Privatization Initiative Restructure for Air Education and Training Command Group II: $65,000,000
- Defense agencies’ military construction authorization for projects at Maxwell Air Force Base: $44,000,000
Birmingham
- Army Reserve Center/Army Maintenance Support Activity/Land Acquisition: $57,000,000
Fort Rucker
- UH-60 Blackhawk
- UH-60 Blackhawk M Model (MYP) New Procurement: $289,257,000
- Blackhawk Product Improvement Program: $35,147,000
- CH-47 Chinook
- CH-47 Helicopter New Procurement: $591,645,000
- CH-47 Cargo Helicopter Modifications: $108,408,000
- MH-47 Chinook
- Procurement of MH-47 Chinook helicopters for special operations aviation: $168,411,000
- Chinook Product Improvement Program: $7,277,000
- UH-72 Lakota
- Utility Helicopter Modifications: $125,013,000
Trump’s defense budget
The $1.15 trillion defense policy bill authorizes a large portion of Trump’s total $1.5 trillion defense budget request, which includes a request for $350 billion through the reconciliation process. The Defense Department is asking for a separate supplemental appropriations package to fund the Iran war and a set of domestic priorities.
Before leaving for the August recess, the House adopted a $95 billion budget framework to advance Pentagon funds, farm aid and election measures before the end of the year. The resolution includes $60 billion for the Pentagon and $13 billion for intelligence programs, still well short of that $350 billion reconciliation request.
Rogers said securing the reconciliation money will be crucial for filling a hole in the department’s budget after military operations in Venezuela and Iran.
“So I think you’re going to see some training paralyzed and some maintenance deferred” until the reconciliation money clears Congress, the chairman said.
After two weeks of intense strikes, the United States did not strike Iran on Saturday, but tensions remain high. Rogers remains supportive of Trump’s war against Iran, as he said classified briefings confirmed to him that the Middle Eastern nation was “within weeks of getting a nuclear weapon.”
But he did not agree with Trump’s ceasefire, which has since been broken, arguing that Trump “should have never taken his boot off their neck six weeks ago when he stopped the bombing and said we’ll start trying to negotiate.”
“He needs to keep inflicting pain until they cry uncle and say fine, ‘We’ll let you have access to the materials and we’ll stop messing with the Strait of Hormuz,’” Rogers said.
The NDAA still has a long way to go until it’s enacted. Earlier this month, Senate Democrats blocked starting debate on the chamber’s version of the defense policy bill over objections to the Iran war.
Since the NDAA will need 60 votes to pass in the Senate, the two chambers will have to reconcile their versions of the bill in a bipartisan fashion before final votes.
The defense spending authorizations cannot take effect until Congress passes a separate defense appropriations bill.
As Rogers looks to steer the NDAA to final passage by the end of the year, he’s hoping it’s not the last one he oversees as chairman. He’s term-limited, having served as both chairman and ranking member for six years this January. But Rogers said he plans to seek a waiver to stay atop the committee next year.
“It’s my plan” to seek a waiver, Rogers told ADN.