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NDAA Update Oct 26, 2026: Is the NDAA actually in trouble?

Three stories on Oct. 26: Punchbowl News's Briana Reilly, Anthony Adragna, Em Luetkemeyer and Jake Sherman on whether the NDAA's 65-year enactment streak is in trouble, with Democrats pressing for hundreds of billions in defense-spending cuts and Iran-war guardrails, the Pentagon doubling down on its $1.5 trillion request, and Speaker Mike Johnson saying Congress has to come together and get it done, The Hill's Filip Timotija on Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell's Fox News Digital op-ed urging Congress to keep House and Senate Armed Services measures in the FY27 NDAA formally codifying the Department of War name, after Rep. Ronny Jackson's amendment was adopted 29-27 during the June marathon NDAA session, and The Center Square's John Cole on Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) telling The Center Square on Oct. 15 that he hopes "three big things get done" in the lame-duck session, naming the National Defense Authorization Act first after the $1.15 trillion bill failed cloture 50-46 on July 14, with a Senate procedural vote on his second priority, permitting reform, set for Nov. 9.

Bill status

No change in the bill's status: the House passed H.R. 8800 on July 22, 2026; S. 4784 has not reached the Senate floor; and the Senate is scheduled to return the week of November 9, after the November 3 election, with the NDAA deferred to the lame-duck session. Full timeline: FY2027 NDAA status · Did the NDAA pass? · NDAA 2027 status · What happens next.

The stories

Is the NDAA actually in trouble?

Punchbowl News · Oct 26, 2026

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'

The Hill · Oct 26, 2026

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

The Center Square · Oct 26, 2026

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.

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