Latest FY2027 NDAA news

BGOV OnPoint: Annual Defense Policy Bill Awaits Lame-Duck Action

Greg Tourial writes that the $1.15 trillion FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act may be one of the last major bills of the 119th Congress, with House and Senate leaders trying to reach agreement on final text that can pass by the end of December, when key military pay and contracting authorities expire. Any deal will have to overcome opposition from Democrats — who have newfound leverage after their midterm election sweep — to the bill's price tag, the conduct of the war with Iran, and other contested language.

Republicans have a ticking clock. What can they get done on defense?

Valerie Insinna reports that Republicans are under the gun to pass defense funding during the lame duck session following a crippling loss in midterm elections, but first they will have to square off against emboldened Democrats seeking to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and curb the Iran war. With only five legislative weeks remaining in the year, GOP leaders may make a last-ditch effort to pass party-line reconciliation funding and a fiscal 2027 budget before Democrats take control of the House and Senate in January. The Pentagon has requested funding via three vehicles — a $1.15 trillion discretionary defense budget, a $350 billion mandatory funding request through reconciliation, and a supplemental including $67 billion for defense to recoup Iran war expenses — and another key to-do is the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act, an annual policy bill that does not provide funding but contains changes ranging from troop pay raises to defense acquisition reform. In a note to investors, TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer said a sweeping Democratic takeover is the "toughest" scenario for defense spending, the lame duck period is "now critical" as the "last shot at [reconciliation]," and both the NDAA and defense appropriations are likely delayed until early 2027. Capital Alpha Partners analyst Byron Callan reduced his prediction that further defense reconciliation will pass from 15 percent to 10 percent and projected a 50 percent chance of a government shutdown after the current continuing resolution expires on Dec. 11. AEI's Todd Harrison said Democrats have "zero incentive to reach any kind of a deal on appropriations" and that "You've got Democrats itching to find a way to curtail the president, in his ability to conduct the war. The NDAA could be the legislative vehicle where they try to put some of those policies into law," with Democrats possibly also seeking to reverse the "Department of War" rename. Washington Rep. Adam Smith, likely to become House Armed Services Committee chairman, signaled in a Wednesday letter that he would support a more restrained defense budget: "We must push for the development of a more realistic and sustainable approach to our national security — one that does not require a defense budget in excess of $1 trillion or one paid for with draconian cuts to critical domestic programs."

Congress's defense advocates take big hit in 2026 midterm elections

Valerie Insinna reports that the Democratic wave took with it a number of notable defense experts, with major reshuffling expected on the House and Senate defense committees in the 120th Congress. Democrats have at least 228 House seats (picked up 25 so far; NBC projects about 258) and a 54-44 Senate lead with Alaska and Mississippi uncalled, still short of 60. SASC ranking member Jack Reed, SAC-D ranking member Chris Coons and HASC ranking member Adam Smith all won reelection and are poised to take over their committees; Smith is poised to again become HASC chairman. HASC Chairman Mike Rogers won reelection; the question is whether he seeks a waiver to stay HASC's top Republican (House GOP rules limit three consecutive terms as chair/ranking member without a waiver). Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins lost to Democrat Troy Jackson. HASC tactical air and land subcommittee chair Rob Wittman trails Democrat Shannon Taylor by about 2 points with 98% in (AP hasn't called it); if he survives he would likely seek the top HASC Republican spot, as have expressed interest Reps. Trent Kelly and Ronny Jackson. HASC member Jen Kiggans lost to former Rep. Elaine Luria. SASC member Sen. Dan Sullivan's Alaska race is uncalled.

Congressman calls for tougher Pentagon oversight in bid for committee chair

Eve Sampson reports that Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., is making Pentagon oversight a central priority in his bid to reclaim the House Armed Services Committee chairmanship. In a Wednesday letter to Democratic colleagues, Smith called for more public testimony from senior defense officials and the restoration of a dedicated oversight subcommittee, listing strikes in the Caribbean and the U.S. war with Iran — which he called "illegal" — among his top concerns. He questioned the need for a defense budget exceeding $1 trillion and criticized the president's battleship proposal, writing that the Pentagon needs "an appropriate mix of high-end survivable systems and lower-cost attritable capabilities, not a fleet of nuclear-powered battleships as proposed by the President." Smith said he remained committed to passing the annual National Defense Authorization Act, though working with Republicans would be "extraordinarily difficult." The NDAA remains unfinished after Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote in July amid disagreements over the war in Iran and provisions involving Israel.

Defense firms fall as Democratic victory stokes fears of tighter Pentagon budget

Aatreyee Dasgupta reports that US defense shares fell Wednesday as the Democrats' midterm victory stoked concerns about pressure on Pentagon spending plans; Lockheed Martin down 6.5%, RTX down over 4%, L3Harris nearly 8% in morning trading, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman down 3% to 5%. The sector had benefited from Trump's call for a $1.5 trillion 2027 military budget, well above the currently approved $901 billion level, and the Iran war. Analysts said a Democratic-led House could subject defense budgets and new programs to greater scrutiny. Jefferies analysts expect the 2027 defense budget to be closer to the House's roughly $1.15 trillion proposal than the administration's $1.5 trillion request.

Republicans set their sights on one last reconciliation bill before Democrats take over

Jack Fitzpatrick reports that after Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the Nov. 3 midterms, GOP lawmakers are eying a partisan lame-duck reconciliation package, with Iran war funding, a debt limit increase, voting restrictions, crypto, and hemp floated. Republicans also face year-end deadlines needing Democratic cooperation: government funding runs out Dec. 11 and Congress still has to pass the annual Pentagon policy bill. Lawmakers are scheduled to be in session only a few weeks before year end. Democrats may use must-pass measures as leverage, likely insisting on more votes to end the Iran war. The annual defense authorization measure, which expires Dec. 31, stalled amid fights over the Iran war; in July Democrats blocked a motion to start Senate floor work on the bill, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would not let it "become a permission slip for that recklessness that we see occurring in Iran." Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said lawmakers are prepared for work to go down to the wire: "When I was in the U.S. House, I was here in session on Dec. 31 at midnight... I'm guessing that's a possibility again this year." Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said Republicans should prepare a partisan defense-spending package via reconciliation, since bipartisan funding talks would likely stall into a long-term CR.

Republicans' last chance to cement their legacy in Trump's Washington

Katherine Tully-McManus reports that Democrats' overwhelming takeover of both the House and Senate will trigger a shot clock on the Republican governing trifecta, setting up a tense post-election session. Lawmakers will return to Washington next week for the lame-duck session to sort through must-pass legislative business, including funding the government to avoid a pre-holiday shutdown and passing the annual defense authorization bill. Republicans share at least two legislative priorities with Democrats: passing a government funding bill and the National Defense Authorization Act. Government funding negotiations will take precedence with a Dec. 11 deadline when the current short-term funding bill expires, and work will continue in pursuit of passing the annual defense policy bill before year's end.

Schumer says Republicans favor ending Iran war immediately, cites 'power of the purse'

Alexander Bolton reports that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said there will be Senate Republican support for ending the war with Iran as soon as possible and that Democrats will use the "power of the purse" to starve the Defense Department of funding if necessary. "We are going to end the war. We have some Republicans already who have joined us in ending the war, and the Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people," Schumer said at a press conference at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) headquarters in Washington on Wednesday. Democrats are threatening to block the annual Defense authorization bill and Defense appropriations measure as long as the nation is still at war with Iran. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the next Senate Democratic whip, told reporters several weeks ago: "My own view is that if the war is over, then the opportunity for bipartisanship on defense authorization and defense appropriations is there. I think if the war's not over it's going to be extremely difficult."

Sweeping Democratic takeover puts Pentagon's $1.5T spending ambitions and Hegseth's leadership under pressure

Tony Bertuca reports that Democrats' historic takeover of Congress in the midterms is likely to derail the administration's plan to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion next fiscal year, while giving lawmakers new leverage to scrutinize Pentagon leadership, acquisition policies and major weapons programs. The immediate question is whether Republicans can use their remaining lame-duck weeks in control of both chambers to pass a fiscal year 2027 defense budget before Democrats take over in January.

Three Ways the New Democratic Congress Could Constrain Trump on Foreign Policy

Jennifer Hendrixson White writes that after voters gave Democrats decisive control of both the House and the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterms — an election she says appears to have been centered around concerns over the Iran war, the economy, and corruption — Democrats' first major opportunity to restrict military action or funding for the war may come during the lame-duck session. Funding of the government depends on a continuing resolution that expires on December 11, and Senate Democrats may use this deadline as leverage to extract concessions on Iran. The second opportunity is the ongoing negotiation over the NDAA, a bill that has reliably been passed annually for sixty-five years. Senate Democrats blocked the FY2027 NDAA Senate bill in July, largely over concerns about Iran — the article calls it the "2026 NDAA" — and will likely continue to use their leverage in the lame-duck session. If Democrats threaten to block passage of the NDAA, she writes, they have leverage to attach riders that limit presidential authority and funding on Iran.

Top Dem sees uncertain NDAA deal headed into lame duck

POLITICO reports that top House Armed Services Democrat Adam Smith said negotiators will face a tough road to clinching a compromise defense policy bill for President Donald Trump to sign in the final weeks of the GOP-controlled Congress. "It's going to be hard because the president's completely checked out," Smith said in a brief interview. "I don't know what he's going to want. I don't know how we're going to figure out the money. So no, I don't have easy answers to that." The comments signal uncertainty as the four leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services panels enter negotiations over a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act when Congress returns for a lame-duck session before the end of the year. The NDAA is one of the few major bills that reliably becomes law each year, though the Iran war and other rifts between the Trump administration and Democrats have complicated the process this year. Some Democrats have argued that the party shouldn't back an NDAA without significant guardrails on Trump, namely an end to the military campaign against Iran.

AI threats create urgent need to renew cybersecurity information-sharing law, businesses tell Congress

Eric Geller reports that three dozen business groups, including organizations representing critical infrastructure sectors, are pressing Congress to renew a major cybersecurity information sharing law before its expiration next month. The 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act "has become a foundational component of the nation's cybersecurity," the groups wrote on Sunday to the chairs and ranking members of the congressional armed-services committees. CISA 2015, as the law is often called, provides liability protections for companies sharing cyber threat indicators amongst themselves and with federal agencies. After the law's initial 10-year operating period expired in 2025, lawmakers passed several short-term extensions, with the latest one set to lapse on Dec. 11. Businesses now want Congress to include a new 10-year extension in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2027. The industry coalition wrote: "These authorities support the timely exchange of actionable threat intelligence and are central to the collective defense of public- and private-sector networks, particularly across critical infrastructure sectors." Signers include the Aerospace Industries Association, American Bankers Association, American Chemistry Council, American Petroleum Institute, Healthcare Leadership Council, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, National Rural Water Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and USTelecom; cybersecurity-focused groups including the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure and the Cybersecurity Coalition also signed. The groups pointed to recent vulnerability crises that have led to global patching scrambles, writing: "In this environment, the speed and breadth with which defenders share information determines whether they keep pace with adversaries." "That speed depends on the legal certainty CISA 2015 provides." The House's draft version of the 2027 NDAA includes a provision reauthorizing and renaming the cybersecurity information sharing law that would add AI to the list of topics about which companies can share information. The Senate's draft NDAA does not include a CISA 2015 reauthorization. Lawmakers will begin working to reconcile the two draft bills after they return to Washington on Nov. 9, following the midterm elections.

The Congressional 'right to repair' solution needs some repairs itself

In a Breaking Defense op-ed published November 3, 2026, Elaine McCusker, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former acting undersecretary of defense (comptroller), argues that House Section 861 and Senate Section 804 right-to-repair / technical-data provisions need modification as House and Senate conferees negotiate a final FY2027 NDAA in the post-midterm session. The House and Senate provisions "are very similar and would set the default rights on any Pentagon contract to government purpose rights (GPR), which allow the US to use data generated by a combination of government and private funds and share that data as needed for federal purposes." She writes that the legislation as written would bypass root issues "with a one size fits all approach that could delay development and procurement, pull money from readiness accounts and drive innovative companies out of the defense industrial base when the nation needs them most," and that it "could cause more harm than good to the military's ability to get the equipment it needs and keep it running." Two core problems she identifies are negotiating government license rights to needed intellectual property and, once obtained, managing and delivering that technical data for maintainers. Defaulting all IP to GPR, she writes, could grind defense contracting to a halt and raise prices by requiring any contractor asserting less-than-government purpose rights to prove there was no government investment in their IP prior to contract award; new commercial firms "will not have the business model to easily give up IP," while traditional primes "may not possess the rights to disclose IP developed and owned by their subcontractors or supply chains," and companies "will have to price loss of IP into sales to the Pentagon." The proposed rules "will do nothing to fix the problem of repairing equipment that is in the inventory now." She says solving disagreements on the distinction between operation, maintenance, installation and training (OMIT) data — which law already requires be provided with unlimited rights — and detailed manufacturing and process data (DMPD) would go a long way, citing a CSIS paper that "DOD guidelines acknowledge that some OMIT data also qualifies as DMPD" but that such data does not automatically fall under unlimited rights. Her suggested fix is to modify the legislation to use existing GPR authorities updated to further delineate data definitions, treat software and source code needed for repairs with a different policy as procurement of such technology already does, and have the government work with industry in contract negotiations to determine what data it actually needs; if the Pentagon has trouble defining the future need, "it should consider employing a form of special negotiated license similar to the commercial sector," an approach Congress preferred in the 2018 defense policy bill (Section 835). She also urges Congress to direct the Pentagon to demonstrate implementation of the data management section of its November 2025 Acquisition and Management of Contractor-Prepared Data (DOD Manual 5010.12) and then update the requirements of the 2026 policy bill (Section 805) to require a secure digital catalog for management and access. "Defaulting to GPR is not the answer," she writes; the solution is "to fix what is actually broken — accurate identification, acquisition and management of required IP — and availability of that data to military maintainers."

The terms that govern how companies bring innovation to government could be changing

On Federal Drive with Terry Gerton, Jim Carroll, CEO of the Professional Services Council, says "One of the things that is going to happen almost immediately is the work on the NDAA." The page summary states that as Congress works through the final version of the defense authorization bill, contractors are watching closely for provisions involving intellectual property and access to technical data, and that those decisions could shape how companies protect their investments while still providing government access to the technologies it wants most. Gerton notes it is election day and that a lot of people will be watching where the National Defense Authorization Act is and how it progresses. Carroll says he met with the House Armed Services Committee last week, that they are working very hard trying to get the NDAA through and making sure they are doing everything possible to get the government funded, and that "December 11 is when our government funding bill runs out." He says that regardless of the outcome of today's election, "there is a great deal of appetite to getting a CR, getting another continuing resolution, get it passed into the end of January, maybe February," and that there is a lot to do in the current bill that is of interest to PSC members, who are federal contractors. Asked about intellectual property rights and defense repair rights provisions in this version of the NDAA, Carroll says there is "thankfully a great deal of progress on getting this right," that everyone understands — whether from the Pentagon, the White House, or in a bipartisan bicameral fashion from Capitol Hill — that the warfighter in the field "absolutely needs to be able to do whatever it takes to stay safe, stay engaged," and that the issue is the research and development funds that have gone into developing this intellectual property and the safeguards around it. He says the IP provisions will be in contract so companies know up front there will be the ability, if there is the need to quickly produce something that is a one-off situation not going into production, and that if there is any attempt to buy a third party to suddenly take that IP and make their own item, that is absolutely protected, as well as the idea that there might be post-employment restrictions on maintenance personnel so they cannot take that IP to a competitor. He says having these protections in contracts and licensing agreements will encourage companies to stay in the defense industrial base, and that if the provisions went through as initially contemplated — that basically "there's no such thing as IP" — some companies were going to rethink getting into the defense world. Asked whether those constraints strike the right balance, Carroll says he thinks they do, that no one is disputing that military personnel who need maintenance capabilities should have them at their fingertips, that companies want to make sure they cannot take that IP and go into mass production or give it to another company, that it would primarily be on the MDAPS, the major defense acquisition programs, and that overall "this is a really good balance of protecting everyone."

Congress returns: National security and trade provisions to watch in the FY2027 NDAA

Michael Lowell, Lizbeth Rodriguez-Johnson, Justin Angotti, Kirsten Lowell, Lee Williams and Erika Yeager write that Congress is scheduled to return from its pre-election recess the week of November 9, with the FY2027 NDAA among its largest pending items. The House passed H.R. 8800 on July 22, 2026, by a vote of 216–212, and the Senate received it on September 14, 2026. A July 14 cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 4784 failed 50–46, and a motion to reconsider remains pending; the Senate has not passed either bill. A single text is expected to come together in the lame-duck session, competing for floor time with government funding that expires December 11. House bill provisions they flag include referring Section 1260H Chinese Military Companies List entries to the Federal Acquisition Security Council for possible presidential government-wide exclusion orders reaching subsidiaries and affiliates; making certain Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) items eligible for the AUKUS license exemption (Section 1736); barring the Department of War from buying or using technologies tied to China or other foreign adversaries, including humanoid robots, blockchain networks, semiconductors made on Chinese silicon carbide wafers, Chinese optical fiber, telecom contracts with entities that could be required to disclose DoW information to a foreign government, and Chinese financial apps on DoW devices; requiring IT vendors that sell in, or have operations or personnel in, China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia to agree to share security vulnerabilities with DoW first to keep DoW contracts; and directing DoW to track adversarial capital and beneficial ownership in the defense industrial base and review defense-supplier mergers and acquisitions, without giving DoW new authority to block or unwind transactions.

Joint AAU-APLU FY27 NDAA Conference Letter

AAU President Barbara R. Snyder and APLU President Waded Cruzado write as presidents of the Association of American Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities to Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, Ranking Member Jack Reed, House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Adam Smith as they reconcile the FY27 NDAA measures S. 4784 and H.R. 8800. The combined membership of AAU and APLU includes more than 280 of the nation's leading research universities. They urge the committees to build on the research-security framework created beginning with the FY20 NDAA and the Securing American Science and Technology Act — which they say has anchored government-wide policies created by National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33) and the CHIPS and Science Act — rather than layer new conflicting and confusing research security constructs on top of it. They welcome Senate Section 220 provisions that would codify NSPM-33, particularly information sharing, training, and screening procedures, and that designate an academic liaison role at the Department of Defense and chief research security officers at research universities, but say the remainder of the section would have significant unintended consequences: beginning in 2028, Section 220 would bar any university receiving DOD funds from entering into a contract for any purpose — including non-research related activities — with a covered nation or foreign entity of concern unless DOD grants a waiver; co-authorship, scholarly publication, and other ordinary forms of academic exchange would act as triggers for loss of funding; and universities would have to rely on volatile, unverified Commerce Department lists. They recommend amending Senate Section 220 to replace every reference to "countries of concern" with "entities of concern"; define "foreign talent programs" as "malign foreign talent recruitment programs," using the definition in Section 10638 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. §18901); define "covered institution" as a research organization or institution of higher education receiving more than $50,000,000 per year in total research funding, including funding from DOD, consistent with NSPM-33; define "fundamental research" consistent with National Security Decision Directive-189; narrow §4146(c)(7) so that co-authorship, publication, and open scholarly exchanges are not used as triggers for loss of funding; narrow the §4147 contracting prohibition to DOD-funded awards and DOD-supported researchers; remove the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, the Unverified List, and Military End-User List as automatic triggers for cancellation of DOD funds; set clear compliance timeframes, provide adequate wind-down periods when entities of concern are newly listed, and bar retroactive penalties; and direct consequences toward individual researchers who engage in intentional misconduct rather than at an entire university. Recommendation: oppose inclusion of H.R. 1048 and/or Senate Amendment 6448 (the DETERRENT Act) in the final FY27 NDAA conference agreement, arguing it would significantly expand the Department of Education's authority to evaluate and approve research contracts even though the department does not have a research security office or requisite expertise, and that a rewrite of Higher Education Act Section 117 — which the Armed Services Committees have not marked up, was not made in order for House NDAA debate, and which the Senate has never considered — should not be wedged into a conference report on defense policy. Recommendation: strike Senate Sections 843 and 849 and House Section 1244, which they say would significantly broaden the Section 1260H list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States, rendering its targeted application useless — the House provision would expand "formal association" to include "research collaborations" and "assistance" to include grants and sponsored research, along with discounts, employees, real property, or "any other preferential treatment," and the Senate provisions would reach entities that merely have the potential to advantage the Chinese military. Recommendation: strike House Section 236, which would bar DOD funding for a broadly defined category of "gain-of-function" research that they say extends well beyond pathogens of pandemic potential to techniques that protect U.S. troops and American lives, including cancer immunotherapies, improved insulin production, and resilient crops, and that risks coming into conflict with Executive Order 14292 on "Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research" and the government-wide "U.S. Government Policy for Stopping High-Risk Life Sciences Research." Recommendation: strike the Norman and Scott amendments, adopted by voice vote on the House floor — Norman Amendment #32 would extend the Stevens Amendment's public communications disclosure requirements to DOD, and Scott Amendment #34 would bar foreign nationals from non-public areas of the national laboratories, several of which are managed by AAU and APLU member universities. They urge retention of House report language on analytical tools to improve DOD research security and on protecting defense innovation from adversaries; Senate report language directing a JASON study of co-authorship metrics and university research security, supporting university affiliated research centers, and implementing the Shared Classified Commercial Infrastructure Pilot Program; and the National Quantum Initiative offered as amendments by Senators Todd Young and Dick Durbin. They also support Senate Section 1633, which would direct DOD to establish a pilot program for military cyber units to partner with universities recognized in the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity program, and Senate Section 549B, which establishes standards and restrictions for higher education institutions participating in DOD education programs.

President Delegates NDAA Sanctions Authority to Treasury and State

Daily Federal reports that on October 28, 2026, the President issued a memorandum titled "Delegation of Authority Under Section 8335 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026," assigning sections of the enacted FY2026 NDAA — not the pending FY2027 bill — to the Treasury and State secretaries and to agency heads. The memorandum delegates to the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 8335(a) (22 U.S.C. 10704(a)); once sanctionable foreign persons are identified by the Secretary of State, heads of relevant executive departments and agencies may implement such sanctions. The President further delegated to Treasury the authorities under sections 8335(c)(1) and 8335(d)(1), section 8335(f) in consultation with the Secretary of State, and section 8335(i); the Secretary of State received the authority vested in the President by section 8335(g). Section 2 of the memorandum provides that these delegations apply to any provision of any future public law that is the same or substantially the same as the referenced provision. Section 3 directs the Secretary of the Treasury to publish the memorandum in the Federal Register. The notice appears as FR Doc. 2026-22386, 91 FR 69203 (Federal Register Volume 91, No. 210, pages 69203-69204), filed on October 30, 2026 at 11:15 a.m., on public inspection October 30 and publishing November 2.

Congress' 65-year defense bill streak could be in jeopardy

Ellen Mitchell reports that Congress' annual defense authorization bill is on shaky ground amid partisan infighting, threatening its unbroken 65-year streak of passage. The NDAA faces an uphill climb due to its historically high $1.15 trillion request, a figure that climbs to $1.5 trillion if the Trump administration gets its desired third reconciliation bill passed (also a tough climb). Democrats feel the topline must be cut by hundreds of billions of dollars and want guardrails around the ongoing war against Iran before voting yes, setting up a showdown with the administration, which is not letting up on its desired dollar figure or close to a peace deal with Tehran that satisfies Democrats. Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense budget expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said the distance between a "nightmare scenario," in which the NDAA is not enacted, and a defense bill bundle that includes a third reconciliation bill is the widest gap she has ever seen: "The politics are absolutely dismal between the two branches right now." "Once red lines are crossed, it is difficult to go backward. I fear the necessary and bipartisan NDAA is fragile in this new era but hope I'm wrong." In June the House Armed Services Committee passed its version 44-12, with only half the panel's Democrats voting in favor (typically only one or two Democrats would oppose); in July the House passed it 216-212, with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans. In July senators failed to advance their version on a 50-46 procedural vote, short of 60. As of late October, House and Senate lawmakers are pursuing informal negotiations; a defense insider said congressional staff have finished their work on the bill and unresolved issues have moved to the staff director level, to then go to the "Big Four" (chair and ranking member of the House and Senate Armed Services committees) once lawmakers return after the November midterm elections, with a goal of completing the bill by Thanksgiving.

Darkness Before the Dawn? The Outlook for a 66th Consecutive National Defense Authorization Act Is Dimming

William C. Greenwalt says NDAA passage prospects may be the worst in decades; the fate will be decided, as for the past 65 consecutive years, on whether there are enough bipartisan votes, and "those votes are just not there yet." The House could not even pass it on a party-line basis this year: six Democrats supported it to cancel out seven Republicans who opposed. Senate cloture needing 60 votes was "a bridge too far." Failing to get a Senate bill is not unprecedented; a pseudo-conference lining up the House-passed bill with the Senate committee-passed bill is now under way, and success hinges on whether the outcome can get 60 Senate votes. Conferees must address Democratic concerns, best articulated by Sen. Kaine's additional views to the SASC report: the topline, the department renaming, and the administration's use/threat of force. The topline will be handled in other bills (reconciliation, a CR, or stalled appropriations), so options include waiting, marking to a likely CR, authorizing hollow budget authority, or dropping the budget tables and going forward as a policy-only bill. Provisions with no Democratic support, such as officially renaming the Pentagon the Department of War, will need to be dropped. Compromise language on administration actions in the Caribbean, eastern Pacific, Venezuela and Iran will test HASC and SASC leaders, and real constraints would invite a veto; the administration's continued tilt to Russia risks shutting down lame-duck defense action. He argues the stock buyback and "right to repair" provisions deserve to be buried. Conclusion: "we may have to wait until February for any clarity on the NDAA's future."

DCUC Urges Thune and Schumer to Keep Commissary Interchange Amendment Out of FY2027 NDAA

The Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) is urging Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to reject any commissary interchange amendment in the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including a study or report intended to advance restrictions on payment-card interchange or routing. In a letter to the Senate leaders, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak calls for excluding the provision from floor amendment packages, any manager's amendment, negotiations, and the final defense bill. DCUC also opposes using the NDAA to advance the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) or related Durbin-Marshall routing mandates. Stverak: "Military families should never be used to sell a payments policy that could leave them with higher costs and fewer financial options." "Putting the word 'commissary' in an amendment does not establish a benefit for the people who shop there. Senate leaders should reject this provision and demand evidence that any proposed change will actually strengthen military families' financial security." DCUC's letter explains that a study would not itself impose the CCCA's routing requirements; the Council's concern is that a study framed around reducing interchange could become the foundation for broader mandates without fully accounting for fraud prevention, cybersecurity, credit access, and the benefits cardholders receive. DCUC President and CEO Anthony Hernandez: "Defense credit unions help families manage the financial demands of deployments, military moves, and unexpected emergencies." "Congress should protect the institutions and payment services those families count on. We strongly oppose using the NDAA to advance an interchange agenda that puts those services at risk without a demonstrated benefit to servicemembers and veterans." Interchange helps support the costs of providing payment cards, monitoring fraud, and maintaining reliable service; DCUC warns that reducing revenue while leaving those obligations in place could put pressure on member fees, card benefits, and credit availability, and that smaller institutions could also experience effects from changes across payment networks even when they are outside a mandate's direct coverage. The request builds on DCUC's June 29, 2026 FY2027 NDAA letter, which explicitly opposed commissary and exchange card-fee studies and related payment-routing provisions. Stverak: "Our opposition has been clear across multiple defense authorization cycles." "A study that becomes the launching point for harmful payment mandates deserves the same scrutiny as the mandates themselves. We are asking both Senate leaders to keep this language out of the final bill."

Buchanan Highlights Key Priorities for Final Defense Bill

Rep. Vern Buchanan led a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees urging inclusion of his ten bipartisan amendments, all unanimously adopted in the House-passed FY27 NDAA (H.R. 8800), in the final bill. They cover combating military obesity, including a Continuous Glucose Monitoring pilot mirroring his FORCE-FIT Act and a Go for Green nutrition report; defense supply chains, including an inventory of legacy semiconductor dependencies and a plan to end reliance on foreign single-source suppliers; a report on AI-powered attacks, scams and fraud targeting military installations and personnel; tactical vehicle risk management and ground safety; and training-accident reduction reporting. Buchanan: "All 10 of my amendments seek to protect the health, safety and readiness of our servicemembers, counter emerging threats from foreign adversaries and strengthen America's defense supply chains."

Congress: Don't Let the NDAA Hand China Our Defense Blueprints

Lt. Gen. Richard Newton (USAF, ret.) argues that FY2027 NDAA "Right to Repair" legislation goes well beyond letting warfighters repair their own equipment and would expand the Department of War's rights to share sensitive technical data outside the U.S. government, creating more opportunities for adversaries to obtain it. He cites a Pentagon investigation after sensitive F-35 components — a cockpit canopy and a weapons-bay door coated with specialized radar-absorbing stealth technology — reportedly ended up in the possession of the Chinese government earlier this year, and writes that the mishandled shipment of F-35 spare parts ended up in Hong Kong. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL): "We cannot allow advanced military technologies to fall into the hands of U.S. adversaries." Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC) called this a "MASSIVE problem," saying, "China spends enormous resources trying to penetrate our most advanced military technology, we cannot make their job easier through failures in our own supply chain." Newton writes it is ironic that members including Harrigan, Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT) are championing right-to-repair while decrying the CCP's attempt to reverse engineer a major American military platform. The House passed its $1.15 trillion defense bill in July 216-212 before the shipment incident; the Senate is still negotiating, and SASC Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) has said the committee is committed to finishing before the end of the calendar year. Newton urges Congress to strip the high-risk right-to-repair provisions from the NDAA, writing that passing the legislation "would turn a known national security vulnerability into federal policy."

Inside the breakdown of Trump's $1.5 trillion Pentagon plan

Noah Robertson reports that The Washington Post spoke with 30 people at the center of national security in Congress, including 20 lawmakers on committees overseeing the Pentagon. With just over 20 legislative days left in the year, lawmakers are deadlocked on the major defense policy and spending bills. The NDAA has advanced for 65 consecutive years; this year it failed to advance in the Senate and barely passed the House, where more Republicans voted against it than Democrats voted for it; the two chambers are negotiating a final version with votes expected later this fall. Most lawmakers said the annual defense appropriations bill is at greater risk of failing. The administration split its $1.5 trillion request into $1.15 trillion needing Democratic support and $350 billion meant to pass with GOP votes alone; Republicans haven't agreed on a strategy for the party-line share. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has urged Congress to approve an additional $67 billion for the Iran war and other operations; nearly all Senate Democrats blocked it. CENTCOM estimated the Iran conflict cost more than $47 billion as of mid-October. Lawmakers of both parties described Hegseth's adversarial behavior — withholding information, attacking Democrats and some Republicans — as straining bipartisan dealmaking. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.): "The people who have been around for a few days have seen what normal looks like. We're not living in normal." Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez: "Lawmakers understand exactly how critical the National Defense Authorization Act and defense appropriations are to military readiness." Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) faulted Democrats; Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): "it takes a lot of nerve." There's still time for a deal, but as the midterms approach, frustration over Iran — and Hegseth — has stymied the president's agenda.

Lawmakers Push House, Senate Leaders Over Shipbuilding in NDAA

Zach Williams reports that a bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers sent a letter to congressional leaders — House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and their Democratic counterparts — saying shipbuilding should be included in the must-pass defense bill when they return from recess. Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) led the effort. The letter, shared first with Bloomberg Government: "Should the United States enter a prolonged conflict, a robust Merchant Marine, outfitted with U.S. shipping vessels manned by American mariners, would be critical for addressing any potential logistical challenges." Kelly and Young sponsor the SHIPS for America Act; the House-passed H.R. 8800 includes a rewritten SHIPS Act.

More Than 100 Lawmakers Push to Include SHIPS for America Act in Defense Bill

Mike Schuler reports that a bipartisan group of 119 lawmakers, in an Oct. 29 letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, urged keeping and expanding SHIPS for America Act (Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security Act of 2025) provisions in the final FY2027 NDAA. The letter was led by Reps. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) and Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). The House-passed H.R. 8800 includes elements of the SHIPS Act under Title XXXVI, agreed to unanimously per the letter; the lawmakers call that "a necessary start" and want omitted provisions considered. The letter cites China, South Korea and Japan building more than 90% of global shipbuilding tonnage vs. under 1% for the U.S., and fewer than 100 U.S.-flagged vessels in international commerce vs. an estimated Chinese fleet of more than 5,500. The letter: "Especially should the United States enter a prolonged conflict, a robust Merchant Marine, outfitted with U.S. shipping vessels manned by American mariners, would be critical for addressing any potential logistical challenges associated with the transportation of supplies." Signers include Sens. Susan Collins, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Amy Klobuchar, Katie Britt and John Fetterman and Reps. Joe Courtney and Rob Wittman.

Rep. Golden urges negotiators to keep American shipbuilding measure in final defense bill

WABI News Desk reports that Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) sent a letter to both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees urging them to keep his amendment in the final defense authorization bill. The House approved a version barring overseas production in July, while a Senate proposal would allow the Pentagon to build certain naval vessels abroad. Golden asks negotiators from both chambers to preserve his amendment before the final bill goes to a vote. Golden's June 5, 2026 release said the HASC-adopted amendment specifies that none of the funds authorized for the Navy in FY27 may be obligated or expended to contract for a battle force ship built in a foreign yard.

Decoding the Right-to-Repair Debate

Jerry McGinn, Patrick Armstrong, and Alek Jovovic write the second article in a CSIS Center for the Industrial Base series on the right to repair. As Congress works to achieve consensus on the issue in the FY 2027 NDAA, the House and Senate versions each feature a right-to-repair amendment: the House bill, via an amendment by Reps. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) and Pat Harrigan (R-NC), would make government purpose rights (GPR) the default IP framework in DOD contracts, shifting the burden onto contractors to justify tighter IP control, while the Senate bill makes government IP access a precondition of doing business with the DOD. The piece explains GPR (the government may use, modify, and share IP within the government and release it to third parties for government purposes), more restrictive limited and restricted rights, and unlimited rights (GPR typically converts to unlimited rights five years after the initial contract). It distinguishes operation, maintenance, installation, and training data (OMIT) — to which industry must grant the government unlimited rights — from detailed manufacturing and process data (DMPD), whose control varies with government investment, and identifies their overlap as a central tension. Solutions discussed include making GPR the default while barring transfer to third parties; data as a service (DaaS); better delineating OMIT and DMPD; and escrow and access agreements.

FY 2027 Defense Funding: Potential Post-Midterm Outcomes

Seamus P. Daniels writes that DoD is under a continuing resolution through Dec. 11. The administration requested $1.15 trillion in base discretionary appropriations plus $350 billion in reconciliation, and a nearly $70 billion supplemental in June for the Iran war and other defense activities. Only 22 Senate and 20 House session days remain. If Democrats win one or both chambers, another CR punting full-year FY27 appropriations is likely; reconciliation defense money is more likely near the $60 billion in the House budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 113) than $350 billion; the supplemental is unlikely to move separately. House defense appropriations bill H.R. 9495 (approximately $1.072 trillion) still needs a floor vote. The piece concludes Congress must also consider the FY2027 NDAA and a possible debt-ceiling deal in a packed lame-duck agenda.

NCOSE Joins 100 Advocates to Urge Congress to Pass STOP CSAM Act

NCOSE joined more than 100 child advocacy organizations urging Senate and House leadership to ensure the STOP CSAM Act remains in the final NDAA. The STOP CSAM Act, cosponsored by Sens. Josh Hawley and Dick Durbin, strengthens protections for child victims and witnesses in federal court; gives survivors a civil cause of action against online platforms that promote or contribute to their exploitation; facilitates restitution; and strengthens NCMEC's CyberTipline. NCOSE President Richie Hamm: "Congress must pass the STOP CSAM Act, critical legislation to help combat online child exploitation and to protect victims. Congress must keep this bill in the NDAA." NCMEC received over 21 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation in 2025. Punchbowl News (Oct. 28) reported the Wednesday letter came from a coalition of more than 120 family, kids and survivor groups urging leadership not to drop the measure from the Senate version of the NDAA, as backers worry negotiators will drop provisions outside traditional defense issues.

The Next Congress Needs to Reclaim Its Oversight of the Department of Defense

Margaret M. Cassidy and Andrew Swick write that the House barely passed its FY27 NDAA in July and Senate Democrats blocked theirs over the Iran war and have not advanced it since. They argue Congress, in the FY26 NDAA and the evolving FY27 bill, has quietly built oversight tools — statutory mandates, funding fences, and reporting and notification requirements. The House FY27 bill demands DoD's analytical basis for every European Command posture adjustment since Jan. 20, 2025, plus an independent GAO assessment; the Senate FY27 bill outlines a new unified combatant command structure, including separate unified commands for Europe and North Africa; and the House FY27 draft would amend Title 10 to require the Defense Secretary to notify the armed services committees within five days of removing a two-star-or-above general officer, with the concerns behind it. They note Hegseth did not give the FY26 NDAA Sec. 911 five-day notice when firing Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, OMB's Statement of Administration Policy opposed NDAA limits on leadership and force-posture discretion, and they urge the next Congress to enforce NDAA mandates through appropriations, confirmations, investigations and even impeachment.

Defense priorities tied up in lame-duck jumble

Rebecca Kheel reports that defense agenda items including the FY2027 NDAA and the administration's goal of a $1.5 trillion defense budget are in the balance during an expected busy lame-duck session after the elections. Defense hawks increasingly warn that President Trump's moves away from Ukraine and toward Russia could endanger his lame-duck agenda. Republicans could try to load up bills with their priorities if they lose one or both chambers in November, and some fiscal hawks appear unconvinced about a major defense spending hike. The NDAA has been tied up in partisan politics over the Iran war and the Pentagon funding request, with Democrats balking at authorizing a record budget without Iran-war guardrails. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) told reporters in mid-October the NDAA was in informal bicameral staff negotiations, and observers expect it to be easier to move after the elections, but Democrats have given no public indication of what would cause them to budge.

Religious and civil-rights groups urge Democratic leaders to strip chaplains provision from FY2027 NDAA

In an Oct. 27, 2026 letter to Senate Armed Services Ranking Member Jack Reed, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Armed Services Ranking Member Adam Smith and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, national religious, religious-freedom, civil-rights and civil-liberties organizations urge them to remove the "Military Chaplains Modernization Act of 2026" (MCMA) from the FY2027 NDAA. Signers include the ACLU, American Humanist Association, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Interfaith Alliance, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, The Sikh Coalition and United Church of Christ, among others. They argue the provision would allow chaplains to point to religion to refuse to carry out their duties, give chaplains a right to proselytize service members, and abandon chaplains' obligation to operate in a pluralistic environment, and that the Constitution and federal law already protect chaplains' religious freedom so a chaplain cannot be required to perform any rite, ritual, or ceremony contrary to their conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs. Contacts listed are Dena Sher of Americans United and Rachel Deitch of the American Humanist Association. The letter is copied to Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono and Tammy Duckworth and Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Sara Jacobs, Marilyn Strickland, Jill Tokuda, Gil Cisneros and Maggie Goodlander.

Is the NDAA actually in trouble?

Briana Reilly, Anthony Adragna, Em Luetkemeyer and Jake Sherman report that the must-pass Pentagon policy bill has been signed into law for 65 consecutive years, but some lawmakers worry that 2026 could end the streak. Democrats say the overall defense spending request must be cut by hundreds of billions of dollars and the bill must include guardrails on President Donald Trump's Iran war, while the Pentagon is doubling down on its $1.5 trillion budget request. Defense watchers still believe the NDAA will pass and want to keep the bill as narrow as possible; House Armed Services vice chair Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said in mid-October, "We can't add things in that aren't in the House version that's passed." Democrats are loath to authorize and provide record funding for a Pentagon run by Pete Hegseth, who faces a House impeachment vote when Congress returns in mid-November; that vote could act as a temporary pressure-relief valve. Lawmakers are wary of a Trump veto given override timing constraints, pressure for concessions grows if Democrats win big Nov. 3, and lawmakers are reluctant to test Trump on issues such as restoring former Confederate names to military bases (Trump vetoed the FY2021 NDAA in part over that). Corporate America is waging all-out war against a Senate provision that would bar Pentagon contracts with companies that conduct stock buybacks or pay dividends, and the defense industry is fighting language in both chambers' bills that would give troops wider latitude to fix their own equipment. Speaker Mike Johnson told Punchbowl: "It's very important." "We have to come together and get it done."

Pentagon presses Congress to keep measure changing name to 'Department of War'

Filip Timotija reports that the Pentagon is pressing Congress to keep measures in the annual defense policy bill that would formally authorize the name change from Department of Defense to "Department of War." Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell, who is also Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's senior adviser, wrote a Fox News Digital op-ed published Monday. Both the House and Senate Armed Services committees adopted measures in their NDAA drafts that would codify the name change preferred by the Trump administration. Rep. Ronny Jackson's (R-Texas) amendment to formally rename the department was adopted 29-27 during the June marathon NDAA session. The push began after Trump signed an executive order last fall authorizing the name change, with Hegseth taking the title of "secretary of War," and many Republicans on Capitol Hill have referred to the department by the new name. The War Department was established in 1789 under George Washington and the name remained until 1949, when it became the Defense Department. Democrats in Congress have called the change unnecessary and accused the administration of engaging in semantics. When the Pentagon asked Congress to codify the new name in April, the department said it would cost nearly $52 million and argued it would not have a "significant impact" on Trump's record $1.5 trillion defense budget request; the Congressional Budget Office said in a January report the name change could cost up to $125 million. Parnell: "The president has acted. Now Congress must finish the job." "Lawmakers should keep it in the final version and send it to the president's desk." "The name of the institution that sends Americans to fight belongs in law, not just in an executive order."

Sen. Dave McCormick hopes 'three big things get done' before session ends

John Cole reports that Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), answering The Center Square on Oct. 15, said lame-duck sessions are historically among the Senate's most productive, "regardless of what happens in the election," and that he is hoping "three big things get done." The first he named was funding the National Defense Authorization Act: "Really important, particularly given what's going on in the world." The article recaps that the $1.15 trillion annual defense bill failed to reach the 60-vote threshold on July 14, breaking 50-46; McCormick voted yes, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was one of four lawmakers who did not vote. Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker called Democrats' opposition "unprecedented" and a "new low." Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) voted against the bill, calling it a "war-funding authorization bill" and an "authorization for the Iran war." The House passed the NDAA 216-212 on July 22, with Pennsylvania's delegation split on party lines; Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) said, "I cannot and will not give them more money without accountability, more authority without restraint, or more opportunities to place American servicemembers at risk without a lawful mission and a coherent plan." McCormick's second priority was permitting reform, with Punchbowl News reporting that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has set an initial procedural vote on the bipartisan permitting bill for the Senate's first day back, Nov. 9.

Pentagon, Lockheed Martin Reach 10-Year Framework Agreement for 850 F-35s

Parth Satam reports that the Department of War and Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 22 a framework agreement for ten years of F-35 production and sustainment covering at least 850 F-35s for the U.S. military plus international orders across Lots 21-30, at 156 aircraft per year, including initial spares, modification kits and sustainment. It is not yet a formal procurement contract; aircraft numbers and pricing must still be negotiated, and execution "remains subject to Congressional authorization and appropriations." The House passed its version of the FY2027 NDAA in July while the Senate version remained pending as of Oct. 23; both versions contain provisions that would authorize multiyear F-35 procurement, and the draft NDAA also recommended multiyear buys for the F-15EX. The Lot 18-19 contract (296 aircraft) was signed in September 2025; Lot 20 negotiations are ongoing. Lockheed agreed to invest at least $7 billion in F-35 program initiatives. Under Secretary Michael P. Duffey said the framework has "fundamentally changed" procurement policy; CEO Jim Taiclet: "This multiyear framework strengthens the way we can plan and invest in the F-35 enterprise." The framework cannot be converted into a formal contract until required authority is enacted and funding appropriated.

House members want forest bill in defense package

On Friday, Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA), George Whitesides (D-CA) and Jeff Crank (R-CO) led 28 House members in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Adam Smith urging inclusion of the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) in the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act, or at least another measure, so it becomes law this Congress. The members called wildfires a "significant – and growing – hazard to our military readiness and national security," citing fires around military installations in Washington and Arkansas that threatened weapons and munitions and forced the National Guard to divert man-hours to firefighting. In 2026 roughly 66,000 fires burned more than 9 million acres, more than 130 percent of the 10-year average; wildfires cost the U.S. between nearly $400 billion and almost $900 billion a year, and every $1 spent on prevention saves $3.75 in prevented damages. FOFA, they wrote, "is the only package that is bipartisan, bicameral, and has undergone a comprehensive committee process in both chambers of Congress." The House passed the bill in January 2025 and again in March 2026.

Ro Khanna to urge negotiators to pull U.S.-Israel cooperation provisions from defense bill

Marc Rod reports that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and a group of at least 30 Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate are set to urge House and Senate leaders negotiating the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act to strip out a provision regarding U.S.-Israel cooperation, according to a draft of the letter viewed by Jewish Insider. Khanna's effort to remove the provision in the House Armed Services Committee was defeated by a voice vote, and House Republicans did not permit a vote on an amendment by Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) when the bill came to the House floor. The letter, gathering signatures through Nov. 6, appeals to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to strip the provision, versions of which are in both the House and Senate bills. It describes the provision as creating an "unprecedented integration of the United States defense industry with the defense industry of a foreign nation" and states, "These provisions would significantly reduce Congress' oversight of the U.S.-Israel defense relationship." If the provision is not removed entirely, the letter urges annual reauthorization, human rights conditions, and a counterintelligence certification before any technology transfer. The provision is based on the U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act. Supporters have emphasized that it would create no new programs nor provide for greater integration of the U.S. and Israeli militaries, and that it requires regular transparency reports to Congress and the public. Current signatories include Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Greg Casar (D-TX) and Joaquin Castro (D-TX).

Pentagon announces 10-year F-35 deal without disclosing a price

Brett Rowland reports that the Department of War announced a 10-year framework Thursday to buy at least 850 F-35s (Lots 21-30, initial spare parts, 10 years of modification kits, and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet) without disclosing a price; neither the department nor Lockheed Martin released a value, and both said the deal depends on congressional authorization and appropriations that have not yet happened. Lockheed said the deal establishes a framework, not the final procurement contract. The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal 2027 defense authorization bill would let the department enter multiyear F-35 contracts. CBO estimated Sept. 28 that the department plans to buy 425 F-35s from fiscal 2027 through 2031 at $61.4 billion, or about 85 aircraft a year. Under federal law, a multiyear procurement contract costing more than $500 million must be specifically authorized in both an authorization act and an appropriations act. Lockheed will self-fund at least $7 billion in initiatives; GAO reported in June that the F-35 Joint Program Office is relying on the private sector to deliver more than $7 billion in additional parts through fiscal 2031, and neither the department nor the company said whether those are the same funds. GAO reported in September 2025 that 156 aircraft per year is the program's maximum capacity, and that the contractor delivered 110 aircraft in 2024, all of them late by an average of 238 days. GAO reported in June that the share of time F-35s could perform at least one assigned mission fell from 67% in fiscal 2021 to 44% in fiscal 2025, and that the full mission capable rate fell from 38% to 25%; lifetime sustainment costs for U.S. aircraft were estimated at $1.6 trillion. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers urged Congress to authorize the arrangement, citing program estimates of $9 billion to $10 billion in savings over the decade. Under Secretary of War Michael P. Duffey said the framework works "by aligning financial incentives with actual performance."

Pentagon Ties Proposed Autonomous Warfare Command to Real-World Combat Results

SOFX Editor Staff reports that an Oct. 21 memorandum from Project Agincourt leaders Owen West (chief executive) and Navy SEAL Senior Chief Max Strasiser set Oct. 1, 2027 as the target to stand up a four-star Autonomous Warfare Command (AUTOWARCOM), with combat performance, competitions and exercises deciding which unmanned systems scale. "Every auditable dollar we spend should reduce cost-per-kill or risk-to-force." "These new systems will not be declared ready on paper." The command cannot be created by directive alone: a functional combatant command needs congressional legislation for its budget and acquisition authorities and a Senate-confirmed commander; the memo directs the unmanned systems office to work with Congress. Section 917 of the Senate Armed Services Committee's FY2027 NDAA (advanced on an 18-9 vote) would permit a Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command led by a four-star officer, with test and limited acquisition authorities; the provision is Senate-only. It would be the first new combatant command since U.S. Space Command was reestablished in 2019. David Deptula (Mitchell Institute) has argued a combatant command risks centralizing control. The FY2027 budget request seeks about $54.6 billion for the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group. Project Agincourt's initial implementation plan is expected by late October, and House and Senate negotiators must reconcile their NDAA versions before any autonomous-systems command becomes law.

Pentagon, Lockheed Agree on 10-Year Framework for F-35

Stephen Losey reports that the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin on Oct. 22 announced a framework agreement to buy F-35s for the next 10 years (lots 21 through 30), with Lockheed building 156 jets per year for U.S. and international customers and the U.S. military buying at least 850 of those 1,560 aircraft, plus initial spares, modification kits and global fleet sustainment. Pricing, schedules and variant splits are not yet set. Lockheed agreed to invest at least $7 billion of its own money. The Pentagon's statement says executing the agreement "remains subject to congressional authorization and appropriations." The article says Congress is currently considering granting the Pentagon authority to enter into multiyear procurement contracts for the F-35 and F-15EX as part of its work on the 2027 defense policy bill, and that lawmakers have yet to pass a FY2027 budget, so the agreement is unfunded and only a framework. Lockheed said that if Congress grants multiyear authority and appropriations in the next few months, it will finalize contract terms with the F-35 Joint Program Office through a formal award. Under Secretary Michael Duffey: "We have fundamentally changed how we stabilize the American defense industrial base to produce at speed and scale." Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet: "This multiyear framework strengthens the way we can plan and invest in the F-35 enterprise."

Republicans Have Big Post-Election Plans - And Big Fears About What's Doable

Al Weaver and Kadia Goba report that Republican leaders plan to use the post-election lame-duck period to fund the government, address the debt ceiling and push through a must-pass defense authorization bill. Passing the annual National Defense Authorization Act is top of mind, and multiple sources do not sense much consternation on that front. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expired in June, could get attached to the NDAA. The article also covers GOP debate over a third, defense-focused reconciliation bill: Sen. Bernie Moreno said "We will do a reconciliation bill. One way or the other"; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito was skeptical; and a senior GOP aide said a defense supplemental likely lacks calendar time. Priorities depend on the Nov. 3 midterm results.

SMA Backs Bipartisan Shipbuilding Language, Urges Inclusion in FY2027 NDAA

SMA and other American steel-industry organizations sent a letter to congressional leadership urging inclusion of bipartisan shipbuilding language, including pro-shipbuilding policies proposed in the SHIPS for America Act, in the final FY2027 NDAA. They say American steel mills supply the material for civil and military fleets, "American ships mean American steel," and "The NDAA is the right vehicle to move this language forward."

Senate lawmakers press Pentagon for greater price transparency

Anastasia Obis reports that Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) wrote Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg asking how DoD will obtain cost and pricing data from contractors, including on contracts below the $10 million threshold, and whether it will terminate negotiations with or disqualify contractors that refuse to provide it. Last year Congress raised the certified cost or pricing data threshold from $2.5 million to $10 million; a House Armed Services Committee analysis found that would block access for more than 60% of DoD contracts. Both the House and Senate FY2027 NDAA versions include provisions requiring contractors to notify DoD of price increases within 30 days of becoming aware of them and requiring the Defense Contract Audit Agency to report noncompliant contractors; the senators urged support for those measures. Similar pricing provisions were dropped from the final FY2026 NDAA. "For far too long, defense contractors have taken advantage of the Department's inability to prevent price gouging…" the senators wrote.

Why the NDAA Matters to Your Health Care

Kevin Lilley writes that MOAA backs three FY2027 NDAA health-care items as the House and Senate work to resolve differences after the election. The House bill would halt plans to close or cut services at more than 40 military treatment facilities and require updated reporting criteria for any proposed MTF downsizing or closure; the Senate bill does not undo those changes but would require a "comprehensive review" of any Pentagon move to "downsize, realign, or otherwise reduce the scope of services" at MTFs and a "consultative discussion" with the House and Senate Armed Services Committees at least a year beforehand. Both bills require an audit of the TRICARE pharmacy program, including "the adequacy of the retail pharmacy network," with special attention to rural and underserved areas and assessments of "meaningful geographic access standards beyond drive-time calculations" and "continuity of care and beneficiary preference." The Senate bill requires a new system for beneficiaries to file access-to-care complaints, based on the MOAA-backed Military CARE Act (H.R. 6796); the House includes a feasibility study of a digital access complaint system and a process and timeline for reporting TRICARE issues not resolved through existing channels.

AFGE Highlights 5 Priorities for Lawmakers Debating NDAA

On behalf of the 250,000 DoD employees AFGE represents, National President Everett Kelley wrote House and Senate Armed Services leaders asking conferees to retain and strengthen House Sec. 1115, which would block DoD from enforcing the March 2025 executive order ending collective bargaining — citing a Sept. 29 letter from 13 Republican members that said denying those protections "threatens to weaken our national security posture by damaging morale, undermining retention efforts, and removing important accountability protections." AFGE also asked for at least a 3.8% 2027 civilian pay raise (Trump told Congress he was freezing federal pay except a 3.8% raise for law enforcement), to strike Senate Secs. 1101–1102 (eliminating the wage-grade pay system and giving the defense secretary sole discretion over pay and job grading), House Secs. 1118–1120 (pay-for-performance demonstration projects covering about 20% of DoD civilians), and House Sec. 1105 and Senate Sec. 513 (converting more than 30,000 dual-status Guard and Reserve technicians to full-time active-duty members).

Pete Hegseth's future as Pentagon chief at center of lame-duck defense battle

Senate Democrats are quietly floating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's ouster after the Nov. 3 election as the political price for cooperation on defense bills in the lame-duck session, per Senate sources, and may have some GOP support; they are threatening to hold up the emergency defense funding the White House requested in June, regular Pentagon funding that expires Dec. 11, and a waiver for Navy secretary nominee Hung Cao. Sen. Tim Kaine said Hegseth's departure could set the stage for more bipartisan cooperation on must-pass bills such as the NDAA and the defense appropriations bill; Sen. Brian Schatz said that if the Iran war is over the opportunity for bipartisanship on those bills is there, but if not "it's going to be extremely difficult"; a GOP senator called pushing Hegseth out "a bridge too far," and key Senate Republicans say they don't see Trump agreeing.

Plan for more US-Israel integration puts our military tech at risk

Retired Army colonel and Quincy Institute senior fellow Andrew M. Leonard writes that House-passed H.R. 8800 (216-212) includes Sec. 219, the "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative," while the Senate bill has a related but not identical Sec. 1217, the "U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act of 2026." Sec. 219 would direct the defense secretary to designate an executive agent to synchronize and accelerate U.S.-Israel defense technology research and development, testing, evaluation, integration and industrial cooperation in areas including counter-unmanned systems, missile and air defense, AI, quantum, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber defense and electronic warfare, and biotechnology; Sec. 1217 directs the secretary to "consult with" Israel's defense minister. Leonard argues that under DoD Directive 5101.01 an executive agent can take precedence over other DoD component heads, creating institutional pressure over the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), with no confirmation or congressional oversight; that embedding foreign-original technology in U.S. programs of record creates long-term dependencies and counterintelligence risk; and that the arrangement lacks precedent even with Five Eyes and NATO allies. He urges the House to make clear it will not vote for a conference NDAA that includes the provision, and the Senate to remove or amend Sec. 1217 and debate it separately.

Trump's Russia moves could complicate lame-duck agenda

John M. Donnelly reports that a bipartisan group of lawmakers is assailing President Trump's Russia moves this month: a six-month waiver of sanctions on purchases of Russian diesel fuel; a waiver of sanctions required under the Graham sanctions law; reported throttling of SpaceX Starlink and Starshield satellite services Ukraine's military relies on; and withheld missile-attack early warning. With thin majorities in both chambers for the rest of the year, Roll Call says it would not take many GOP mavericks to threaten the prospects for the NDAA and the Defense spending bills. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb., House Armed Services), speaking Oct. 14, said the administration's agenda is "dead unless they change paths"; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) pledged to bring Ukraine defensive equipment, a ban on importing Russian oil, and harsher Russia sanctions to the House floor; Speaker Mike Johnson said the sanctions waivers need more discussion with the White House; and Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker is pushing an arrangement under which Ukraine would stop striking Russian energy facilities in exchange for U.S. help targeting Russian missile launchers.

Two major headlines this week put Congress' responsibilities in the spotlight

On Federal Drive, WTOP's Mitchell Miller said the FY2027 defense authorization and appropriations bills saw no action before the election recess and are gathering dust. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been pushing a $1.5 trillion request that includes $350 billion in reconciliation money — which Hegseth said would fund most of Golden Dome and the proposed Autonomous Warfare Command, with a mandatory request of more than $50 billion for unmanned systems; Miller said that request faces pushback from both parties, is skeptical it moves after the election, and expects the number to be whittled down. He said the lame-duck session will be messy as Congress sorts out appropriations and NDAA passage, which he said still has to happen as it has for 60+ years.

Coalition casts wildfire prevention as a military readiness issue

More than 40 organizations are pushing to amend the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act into the FY2027 NDAA, framing wildfire prevention as military readiness; a summer letter to Sens. Wicker and Reed warned dozens of installations face wildfire exposure and that growing Guard firefighting demands could leave units unavailable for overseas missions. The Act (House-passed; Senate Agriculture reported, still awaiting Senate floor) would streamline environmental reviews for hazardous-fuels projects; opponents say it could increase logging and weaken oversight.

Export Control Amendments to S.4784 FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

In an Oct. 16 letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), and Semiconductor Equipment and Manufacturers International (SEMI) object that the BLADE Act (S. Amendment 6069), AI OVERWATCH Act (S. Amendment 6575), MATCH Act (S. Amendment 6585), and Chip Security Act (S. Amendment 6683) were included in the Senate Manager's Amendment to S.4784 without committee markup. They say the proposals are among the most significant legislative changes to dual-use export controls since the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, that modifications to the Export Administration Regulations should go through the regulatory process rather than legislation, and that the measures risk stifling U.S. innovation, creating tension with allies, cutting U.S. companies off from global markets, and accelerating Chinese indigenization in advanced semiconductors. They urge Senate leadership to address the procedural deficiency. The letter is copied to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the majority and ranking members of the Senate Armed Services, Banking, and Foreign Relations Committees.

FCNL's Recommendations for Fiscal Year 2027 NDAA

In an Oct. 16 letter to senators and representatives as the House and Senate begin to reconcile the FY27 NDAA, the Friends Committee on National Legislation urged lawmakers to OPPOSE Section 1217 of S. 4784 and Section 219 of H.R. 8800, which would create a U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative and direct the Secretary of Defense to accelerate integration of Israeli-origin technologies into U.S. weapons systems; OPPOSE Section 1521 of S. 4784, which authorizes research, development and production of two new or modified theater-range nuclear weapons and delivery systems; and SUPPORT Sections 1089, 1502 and 1524 of H.R. 8800 and Section 1653 of S. 4784, which require doctrine for unmanned autonomous systems, an identifiable human chain of command for use of force, updated safeguards and testing of autonomous and AI-enabled systems, and an AI incident reporting program. Section 1089 subsection G requires public reporting on the civilian harm investigation into the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School strike, which killed 156 people. The letter also urges any NDAA to prevent diversion of U.S. military resources, facilities and personnel to immigration enforcement, arbitrary domestic deployments or related civilian law enforcement, and cites the Iran war as costing American taxpayers more than $1 billion per day.

Lame Duck Preview

HASC and SASC are negotiating a final FY2027 NDAA; the full Senate never took up S. 4784, but a Manager's Amendment negotiated by Sens. Wicker and Reed is the Senate position in talks with the House, and both bills carry $1.15 trillion. Committee staff directors began Little Four meetings in early October; chairs and ranking members begin Big Four meetings the week of Nov. 9, with some items possibly kicked to leadership, and the current plan is a finalized NDAA ready for floor consideration the week of Dec. 7. Unresolved issues include the topline (Democrats oppose the $350 billion mandatory defense request), Iran operations, Senate Sec. 815's dividend/buyback ban (likely dropped or severely limited), right to repair (likely significantly altered), China/AI provisions, FISA 702, a 7-year TRIA bill likely attached, and a possible Ex-Im Bank extension; committees outside HASC/SASC face a Nov. 6 deadline to attach provisions.

Senate Manager's Package for the National Defense Authorization Act Includes the AFFORD Act Enhancing Federal Support of CDFIs

The Native CDFI Network says the Senate circulated its NDAA manager's package earlier that week — a bundle of non-controversial or bipartisan amendments from the chairman and ranking member — and that it includes key AFFORD Act provisions increasing the liquidity and lending velocity of Native CDFIs and making the USDA Section 502 Native CDFI relending pilot permanent, expanding it nationally, and authorizing $50 million of existing funding annually. NCN says the AFFORD Act has more than 50 Senate cosponsors and that it will continue pushing the legislation through the NDAA or as stand-alone legislation.

Important Asia Provisions in the House and Senate 2027 National Defense Authorization Act

Zack Cooper and Noah Burke catalog key Indo-Pacific provisions in House-passed H.R. 8800 and SASC-reported S. 4784 (full Senate has not passed its version), covering Pacific Deterrence Initiative and maritime security extensions, Taiwan security cooperation, Korea force floors, AUKUS, China commercial/tech restrictions, critical minerals, and Indo-Pacific posture. They note lame-duck options to pass the SASC text or go to conference, and that AI/semiconductor bills could be added before final passage.

AAJC NDAA Letter to Conferees

In an Oct. 14 letter to Wicker, Reed, Rogers and Smith as they reconcile H.R. 8800 and S. 4784, AAJC urges conferees to drop House amendments it says undermine civil rights, including Amdt. #34 (Rep. Scott) withholding funds from National Labs that admit 'covered visitors' from countries of concern, Amdt. #38 (Arrington, Tenney, Pappas) requiring reports on real property transactions with ties to China, Iran, North Korea or Russia within 100 miles of military installations, Amdt. #2 (Roy) barring foreign nationals from service academies, Amdt. #10 (Strong, Moore) barring enlistment of nationals of those four countries, and amendments on transgender service, TRICARE gender-related care, DoDEA girls' sports, and chaplain requirements.

Lame Duck, High Stakes: Congress's Postelection Agenda

WilmerHale lists the FY27 NDAA as a must-pass, central year-end objective alongside replacing the stopgap by the Dec. 11 funding deadline; Iran war oversight and policy riders complicate negotiations, a final agreement could carry other national security provisions including surveillance authorities, and unrelated controversial proposals could complicate passage. Its scenario table says funding and the NDAA remain priorities whether Republicans keep both chambers or Democrats win the House or both.

StandWithUs Joins Coalition of 27 Organizations Urging Congress to Include the Deterrent Act in the FY2027 NDAA

A coalition of 27 organizations, including StandWithUs, sent a letter dated October 5, 2026 to Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker and Ranking Member Jack Reed and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Adam Smith urging them to include the Deterrent Act in the final conference report for H.R. 8800, the FY2027 NDAA. The legislation would strengthen disclosure requirements for foreign gifts to U.S. colleges and universities; amendments containing its provisions were offered in both chambers during NDAA floor consideration but were left out of the House debate and the Senate managers' package.

IFPTE Sends Letter to Leadership of House and Senate Armed Services Committees on FY27 NDAA Conference Bill

IFPTE urged HASC and SASC leaders to keep in the final FY27 NDAA House Sec. 1115 (limit on funds to limit collective bargaining), Senate Sec. 815 (capital distributions limits for defense contractors), the full SHIPS for America Act (Title 36 of H.R. 8800), and the public-shipyard hiring freeze and RIF prohibitions (H.R. 8800 Sec. 1121 and 1116; S. 4784 Sec. 1106 and 1107). It asked them to drop S. 4784 Secs. 1101–1102 (prevailing rate and job grading for the defense industrial base) and H.R. 8800 Sec. 1105 (eliminating Title 32 dual-status military technician authority).

NMFA Calls for Military Family Priorities in FY27 NDAA

In a Sept. 17 letter to the Armed Services leaders, NMFA backed House provisions on TRICARE fertility/IVF coverage, a pilot treating pregnancy as a TRICARE Select qualifying life event (Sec. 758) and infant/toddler child care grants, plus Senate provisions for a TRICARE access-problem reporting system, standardized child care data, and stronger privatized-housing health and safety standards and inspections.

Beyond the Midterms: Congress Faces Converging Year-End Deadlines

Holland & Knight expects the FY2027 NDAA to be enacted, but likely only after partisan House provisions are dropped or modified; with no Senate floor action, talks will be informal between H.R. 8800 and the SASC bill, and the final bill could move as a stand-alone conference report or inside a broader year-end package around the Dec. 11 funding deadline.

Congressman Bell, Senators Rosen & Lankford Call for Defense Bill to Keep Provision Requiring Consistent Hate Symbol Policy Across Military Branches

Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO-01, HASC member) and Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) wrote to Chairmen Wicker and Rogers and Ranking Members Reed and Smith urging them to keep, in the final FY2027 NDAA, a bipartisan provision already in both the House and Senate bills requiring DoD to establish a single department-wide hate symbol policy for all servicemembers and DoD civilians — clear context-based standards, updated guidance for commanders and investigators, and training — noting current policies vary by branch and that the symbols include swastikas and nooses.

Major Unions and Business Groups Clash Over Defense Contractor Stock Buybacks

The UAW, Teamsters, United Steelworkers and four other unions urged the Armed Services leaders to keep Section 815 of S. 4784, which bars DOD contracts with firms that buy back stock or pay dividends absent a waiver; the U.S. Chamber and other business groups want it dropped, and the House bill has no such provision.

Pete Hegseth's drone command may already have Hill support

Months before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new four-star command for drones and autonomous systems, Senate defense hawks pitched a similar idea in their version of the NDAA; congressional buy-in will be key to standing it up.

Republicans squabble over pro-Israel provision in NDAA

A provision to coordinate and enhance cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli militaries has drawn opposition from some lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Moreno and Rep. Lauren Boebert; Sen. Jim Banks backs it, and SASC Chair Wicker said in August he wasn't worried about GOP opposition.

Democrats sharpen focus on deadly Iranian strike

Democrats led by Rep. Pat Ryan and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin are pressing the top Armed Services leaders to keep three oversight provisions tied to a deadly Iranian drone strike in Kuwait in the final NDAA.

NDAA and Military Pay: House and Senate Versions Differ on Your 2027 Raise

The House bill mirrors the White House's tiered 2027 raise (7% for E-1 to E-5, 6% for E-6 to O-3, 5% for O-4 and up), while S. 4784 funds a 3.6% across-the-board ECI raise. MOAA expects negotiations to begin in earnest after the election, with a final figure somewhere between the two.

Carbajal, Padilla, Schiff, Huffman Lead Colleagues in Urging Removal of Hunt Amendment from Annual Defense Bill

U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), and House Natural Resources Committee top Democrat Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) led 30 of their colleagues in a letter calling on House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders to reject the Hunt Amendment's provision (Section 2835) in the FY2027 NDAA, which would grant unprecedented eminent domain authority to the federal government to benefit Sable Offshore Corporation (Santa Ynez Unit / Las Flores Pipeline). "Given the sweeping implications of this provision, we believe this policy rider does not belong in the NDAA and, therefore, should be removed from the final conference agreement," wrote the lawmakers. They cite California's coastal economy, which supports roughly 511,000 jobs and generates over $51.3 billion in GDP from marine-economy activities, and say there is no evidence that this provision would meaningfully advance the nation's energy security.

Letter to Congress on the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act

The Chamber urged the four Armed Services leaders to keep H.R. 8800's IP ombudsman (Sec. 862), the CISA 2015 extension through 2035 (Sec. 1706) and the orbital data center pilot (Sec. 1728), and to drop S. 4784's stock buyback and dividend limits (Sec. 815) and the government-purpose-rights default (S. 4784 Sec. 804 / H.R. 8800 Sec. 861).

Maritime labor unions urge Senate Armed Services to keep and expand House NDAA SHIPS Act provisions

In an Oct. 6, 2026 letter to Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker and Ranking Member Jack Reed, the United Steelworkers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Seafarers International Union back the SHIPS for America Act and maritime provisions in the House-passed FY2027 NDAA, saying they would support growth of the U.S.-flag fleet, strengthen domestic shipbuilding, expand maritime workforce development and encourage long-term private investment, and that they align with the Administration's Maritime Action Plan. They call the NDAA "an appropriate vehicle" and urge SASC "not only to maintain, but significantly expand upon these provisions." The letter is copied to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the chairs and ranking members of Senate Commerce, Finance and HELP, and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Adam Smith.

MTD Affiliates Support Maritime Provisions in NDAA

The Seafarers, Steelworkers, Machinists, Boilermakers and IBEW wrote SASC leaders Wicker and Reed urging them to keep, and expand, the SHIPS for America Act and other maritime provisions in the House-passed H.R. 8800 in the final FY2027 NDAA.

Republicans can't quit $1.5-trillion Pentagon dream

GOP defense hawks are still pushing a $350 billion party-line reconciliation package toward Trump's $1.5 trillion Pentagon goal despite unresolved offsets. Democrats say Republicans will need their votes on defense appropriations and the NDAA, and that dropping the reconciliation push would open earnest talks on both.

Trump's Golden Dome faces headwinds with funding uncertain

Most of the $17 billion FY2027 Golden Dome request sits in the proposed $350 billion reconciliation package, with only $400 million in the base budget, leaving the program exposed under the continuing resolution that began Oct. 1.

Unions back Senate push to limit stock buybacks for defense contractors

Labor unions led by the UAW urged the Armed Services leaders to keep Section 815 of S. 4784, which would bar Pentagon contracts with companies doing stock buybacks, in the final NDAA. The House bill has no such provision, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Congress to drop it.

Congress Heads Home, But MOAA's NDAA Push Continues

House and Senate are reconciling H.R. 8800 and S. 4784 through an informal process rather than a traditional conference committee. MOAA and other military and veterans groups met SASC staff Sept. 23 to press for health care, reserve benefits, housing safety, and child care provisions in the final text.

Russ Vought bullish on SHIPS Act’s NDAA prospects

OMB Director Russ Vought said key elements of the SHIPS Act maritime package could ride on the final FY2027 NDAA.

Can't start, won't start: Over 150 new military programs face delay under a CR

With the CR running through Dec. 11, more than 150 FY2027 procurement and RDT&E new starts are frozen until a full budget passes.

Four-Star Military Leaders and Fortune 500 CEOs Urge Congress to Take Bold Action on Energy and Mineral Security in Final FY 2027 NDAA

SAFE's Energy Security Leadership Council sent a letter to Chairmen Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers and Ranking Members Jack Reed and Adam Smith urging that a slate of energy and defense supply-chain provisions from both chambers' FY2027 NDAAs be included in the final bill. Signed by 22 retired four-star admirals and generals and 16 business leaders including current and former Fortune 500 CEOs, it came days after the U.S. and China extended their trade truce to Jan. 10, 2027, keeping China's suspension of export restrictions on rare earths, gallium, germanium, and antimony. Four themes: sourcing restrictions, including barring Department of War purchases of solar cells, modules, and inverters from foreign entities of concern plus a report justifying waivers when non-Chinese supply exists, including for samarium; traceability, a Defense Logistics Agency pilot to trace materials in the National Defense Stockpile; domestic industrial capacity, including requiring DoW to share its 2025 Primary Aluminum Sector Industrial Base Assessment and DLA's Aluminum War Game with Congress and using Defense Production Act Title III to train mining, processing, and refining workers (the U.S. is 100% import-reliant for defense-grade high-purity aluminum); and technological innovation, provisions to onshore recycling and study scrap-material flows. The letter also supports codifying DoW's Economic Defense Unit. Earlier in the fall, ESLC urged attaching the Connected Vehicle Security Act to the NDAA or other must-pass legislation.

Senate adjourns until November

Senate adjourns until November with Republicans fearful of losing majority

The Senate returns the week of Nov 9 with only 8 session days in November and 14 in December; the NDAA is still unfinished.

ROA Opens FY 2027 NDAA Conference Campaign After Meetings With Armed Services Committee Staff

ROA says House and Senate negotiators unofficially began reconciling H.R. 8800 and S. 4784 in mid-September; it has sent the committees a Reserve Component conference position matrix, with Duty Status Reform (addressed only in report language this year) as its top priority, and is pushing a dental readiness study for the final bill.

Lame-duck agenda balloons as Congress punts priorities until after election

Sen. Rounds says the NDAA will come together after the election.

FY2027 NDAA: Status of Legislative Activity

Senate NDAA Stalls Amid Iran War and U.S.-Israel Defense Fight

Defense Funding and Policies Set as FY2026 NDAA Becomes Law

P.L. 119-60 signed December 18, 2025: over $900B authorized for DoD and national security programs.

FY2026 NDAA: A Comprehensive Analysis

What the enacted FY2026 NDAA's acquisition-reform overhaul means for defense contractors.

Tracking FY 2027 Defense Appropriations, Reconciliation, and the Supplemental Request