Lawmakers unveiled a $839 billion full-year defense spending bill on Tuesday that gives the Pentagon about $8 billion more than requested by the Trump administration and pays for service member pay raises. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers unveiled a $839 billion full-year defense spending bill on Tuesday that gives the Pentagon about $8 billion more than requested by the Trump administration and pays for service member pay raises.
The bipartisan, bicameral legislation is part of a larger package the House is expected to vote on this week as Congress races to fund the vast majority of the federal government ahead of a Jan. 30 shutdown deadline.
The bill’s spending levels largely mirror funding recommendations in an annual defense policy bill passed in December, including a 3.8% pay raise for troops that took effect this month as well as continuing pay increases for junior enlisted service members. The bill also funds a 1% civilian employee pay increase.
The legislation provides for a total end strength of 1,302,800 active-duty personnel and 764,900 selected reserve forces.
It funds several priorities above the administration’s request, allocating an additional $6 billion for Navy shipbuilding, $2 billion more for munitions, $1 billion more for health programs and $130 million more for the Marine Corps’ barracks renovation and modernization effort.
The legislation also provides $400 million for a Ukraine security assistance program the Trump administration had sought to defund.
Senior Senate GOP staff speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday said continued aid to Ukraine was a key negotiating tool as the Trump administration seeks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and essential for protecting and preserving any ceasefire or peace deal.
“We suspect that this continued security assistance is far more palatable than U.S. boots on the ground,” the staff said.
The legislation also allocates $200 million for the Baltic Security Initiative for the U.S. to provide military aid, training and defense equipment to countries on NATO’s eastern front line.
Appropriators used a report accompanying the bill to declare “ironclad” congressional support for the military alliance and its 32 member states. The statement comes amid an intensifying push by President Donald Trump to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
European officials have warned that Greenland’s seizure would shatter the alliance.
Trump on Tuesday cast doubt on the willingness of NATO allies to fulfill their mutual defense obligations, saying, “I know we’ll come to their rescue but I really do question whether or not they’ll come to ours.”
NATO has invoked Article 5 of its treaty, which holds that an attack on one ally is considered an attack on all, only once — the day after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. in 2001. It led to NATO’s participation in the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Appropriators described NATO as “the most important and effective military alliance in history” and said the bill supports a commitment by member states to spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a target the alliance agreed to last year under pressure from Trump.
There is no language in the bill that ties funding to military commitments abroad, but the policy bill passed in December — known as the National Defense Authorization Act — limits the administration’s ability to significantly shrink the U.S. troop presence in Europe.
Appropriators said the legislation is the product of two months of negotiations following the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The 2026 fiscal year began on Oct. 1.
The House will vote first on the package, followed by the Senate when it returns from recess next week.
