The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a nearly $853 billion defense spending bill that funds a 3.8% pay raise for troops while surging money for Ukraine and boosting the Pentagon’s budget by more than $21 billion.

Adm. Daryl Caudle told the Senate Armed Services Committee the Navy’s moves to loosen requirements have not affected the quality of sailors. He praised the Future Sailor Preparatory Course, which helps recruits improve their qualifications.

The senators, mostly Democrats, said they were worried efforts to retreat from America’s global engagement would create a vacuum, especially in Africa, that competing powers such as China and Russia would fill.

A Marine Corps general has been nominated to lead the U.S. Naval Academy for the first time, replacing the first woman to serve as superintendent of the institution, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday.

In an overnight vote, the House approved an $831.5 billion defense spending bill that keeps a flat budget for the Pentagon, provides a 3.8% pay raise for troops and cuts some 45,000 positions from the civilian workforce.

The House Armed Services Committee advanced a defense policy bill authorizing a 3.8% pay raise for service members, a boost in funding for Ukraine’s military and a prohibition on restoring Confederate names to military bases.

The Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed Anthony Tata, a retired Army brigadier general who has made inflammatory remarks about Islam and prominent Democrats, to serve as the Pentagon’s personnel chief.

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees will have to compromise on their draft NDAA bills: House lawmakers are sticking to the $848 billion defense budget requested by the Trump administration while senators endorse a $32 billion increase. But both panels support a 3.8% service member pay raise.

The House passed President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy bill, extending tax cuts, cutting spending on social safety net programs and giving the Pentagon $150 billion on top of its annual budget.

The Better Outfitting Our Troops, or BOOTS, Act mandates all boots worn by troops, including optional boots that serve as alternatives to the military’s standard-issue boot, are 100% made and sourced in the United States.