U.S. soldiers participate in an Eighth Army run at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, June 9, 2025. (Michelle Lessard-Terry/U.S. Army)
A version of next year’s defense spending bill forwarded recently by the Senate Armed Services Committee would bar the Defense Department from withdrawing troops from South Korea without congressional approval.
The committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act would prohibit “a reduction in U.S. military posture on the Korean Peninsula … until the Secretary of Defense certifies to Congress that such action is in the national interest,” according to a fact sheet from the committee released Friday in Washington, D.C.
The bill also requires the commanders of U.S. Forces Korea and Indo-Pacific Command and the Joint Chiefs chairman to “conduct an independent risk assessment” of potential troop reductions in South Korea, according to the fact sheet.
The committee on July 9 advanced the bill to the full Senate on a vote of 26-1.
The bill supports $925 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2026, a $32 billion increase over the current fiscal year.
The Senate plan includes $879 billion for the DOD, $35.2 billion for defense-related programs within the Department of Energy and $10.8 billion for programs outside the bill’s jurisdiction, according to the fact sheet.
The 2025 defense spending plan is $893 billion, including $849.9 billion for the DOD and $33.28 billion for the Energy Department, according to a summary on Congress.gov.
“From rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific to renewed aggression from Russia and the persistent threat of terrorism and cyberattacks, the United States faces a global security environment unlike any in recent memory,” Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and the ranking committee member, said in a committee news release Friday. “This legislation invests in the service members, technology, and capabilities we need to deter our adversaries and defend our national interests.”
Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi who serves as committee chairman, described the bill as a “direct reflection of the severity of that threat environment, as well as the rapidly evolving landscape of war,” according to the release.
The House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on its version of the bill.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry is aware of the committee’s version of the bill and is tracking its passage, spokesman Jeon Ha Gyu said during a news conference in Seoul on Monday.
President Donald Trump has often said South Korea pays too little of the cost to keep 28,500 U.S. troops stationed there to deter attacks from North Korea.
Under the five-year Special Measures Agreement signed in November by then-Presidents Joe Biden and Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea must pay $1.1 billion annually starting in 2026.
The Trump administration considered moving approximately 4,500 U.S. troops in South Korea to other spots in the Indo-Pacific, such as Guam, according to May 23 report by The Wall Street Journal that cited unnamed military officials.
Reports of a troop reduction in South Korea “are not true” and “the U.S. remains firmly committed to the defense” of South Korea, the Office of the Secretary of Defense said in an email attributed to Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell to Stars and Stripes later that day.
