Congress has debased itself for decades, shirking important responsibilities and handing off power to successive presidents. Yet, in a positive and surprising development, the first branch of government has shown signs of life during this year’s debate over military policy.
To start, Capitol Hill authorized $8 billion more for the military than President Donald Trump requested as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. The must-pass legislation, carefully negotiated over several months, funds several of the president’s big-ticket priorities, including next-generation fighters for the Air Force and Navy, the B-21 Raider stealth bomber and Air Force drone wingmen. The end-of-year bill also makes progress at reforming the Pentagon’s sclerotic acquisitions process while shoring up funding for shipbuilding, missile development and munitions production.
Trump initially asked for $893 billion, which would have been a cut in real terms because of inflation. The White House promised to spend $1 trillion on defense in April and secured $150 billion in July as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including a down payment for Golden Dome missile defense.
This means the U.S. will surpass three percent of GDP on defense, which is less than both the five percent target Trump has demanded from NATO allies and the average across the Cold War. While adversaries boost their military capabilities, U.S. defense spending as a percentage of GDP is barely higher than during the yearsleading up to the Sept. 11 attacks.
It’s fairto expect more backup from Europe in standing up to Russia. The NDAA allocates $400 million for Ukraine in 2026 and another $400 million in 2027. It restricts the Pentagon from reducing U.S. forces in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days and codifies a requirement that NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander be an American officer. Trump had asked to cut off funding for the Baltic Security Initiative, but Congress wisely ignored him and gave $175 million to help Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania build up their defenses.
Members of both parties are horrified by the lawless strikeson alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. The final NDAA includes language threatening to withhold a portion of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until he releases the unedited footage of the second strike that killed two survivors in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.
In another win for checks and balances, this NDAA finally repeals the authorizations for the use of military force that passed in 1991 and 2002 to enable the wars in Iraq. Trump used the 2002 resolution to authorize his strike on Iranian general Qasem Soleimani six years ago. Killing Soleimani was the right call, but it’s long overdue for Congress to pull back what had been interpreted as a 23-year-old carte blanche. Even with those off the books, the post-9/11 AUMF will remain in place, allowing the president to target terrorist groups like ISIS.
Hegseth argued over the weekend that Trump’s “peace through strength” agenda makes him the “true and rightful heir of Ronald Reagan.” Yet this administration is still nowhere close to matching the Reagan defense buildup that helped win the Cold War.
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