Secretary of War Pete Hegseth finishes the installation of a Department of War plaque at the River Entrance in front of the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., Nov. 13, 2025. (Madelyn Keech/Defense Department)
WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee has advanced a defense policy bill that authorizes $1.15 trillion in spending, challenges the Pentagon on officer firings and military base renaming and formalizes the Department of War moniker.
The panel voted 44-12 for the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual must-pass bill that authorizes spending levels and sets priorities for the Defense Department. The vote was more partisan than usual, with many Democrats voicing concerns about the price tag.
The legislation next heads to the full House for consideration.
Members added scores of amendments during a 14-hour debate on the bill, which began on Thursday and ended at midnight, using the measure to both push back against and sanction divisive moves and policies implemented under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The committee unanimously agreed to require the secretary to provide an explanation to Congress within five days of a senior uniformed military leader’s dismissal. The provision follows bipartisan outrage over the firing of multiple top officers, most recently Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.
Two Republicans — Don Bacon of Nebraska and Carlos Giménez of Florida — joined with Democrats to undo Hegseth’s decision last year to restore the names of U.S. military bases that had once honored Confederates.
The measure would direct him to return the bases to their previous non-Confederate names.
“We did it right,” Bacon said. “And then what happened was the secretary comes in and puts his thumb in our eye and just has total disregard for Congress. It bothers me, I think it should bother all of us.”
The House Armed Services committee debates the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 on Thursday, June 4, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Republican Austin Scott of Georgia, who served on the congressionally mandated commission that recommended the renaming of military assets associated with the Confederacy, said the base names will not change under the Trump administration.
But, he added, “I also know that these current names will not stand the test of time.”
All present Republicans and no Democrats voted to officially change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, an action only Congress can authorize. The Pentagon had pushed for the provision, estimating the name swap will cost nearly $52 million and require about 7,600 changes to federal law.
Republican Ronny Jackson of Florida, who introduced the amendment, brought an image of an enlarged War Department seal to the debate.
“Now that you can see firsthand how beautiful it actually is, you will have no choice to vote for this amendment,” he said, adding that the renaming would send an “unmistakable signal” to the world that “America is willing to fight and win.”
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel, dismissed the notion that the Department of War name “strikes fear” in the heart of America’s enemies.
“I wish our adversaries were that stupid,” he said. “Oh my god, the War Department! They must be serious now!”
Dozens of other amendments failed to gain traction.
They included efforts to remove $1 billion in authorized funding for the Trump-class battleship, make the president the only official authorized to overturn a military promotion board recommendation and cut $150 billion from the bill’s $1.15 trillion top line, or total funding level.
Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the Republican chairman of the committee, argued the legislation’s cost “begins to reverse the damage caused by decades of underinvestment in our military.”
The overarching focus of the legislation is on revitalizing an atrophied defense industrial base that Rogers said was no longer capable of manufacturing for troops “at scale and speed” or rapidly replenishing depleting weapons stockpiles.
An amendment added Thursday requires the Pentagon to submit quarterly reports on munitions inventories after heavy usage of munitions in the war against Iran raised fears among lawmakers that supplies are running low.
Another adopted amendment gives service members the ability to fix and maintain their own equipment. The provision was stripped from last year’s defense authorization bill amid fierce opposition by the defense industry.
The legislation authorizes a range of pay raises for service members based on grade, with junior enlisted troops receiving the largest increase at 7%. It also widens troop eligibility for the basic needs allowance.
Other provisions aimed at improving service member quality of life seek to increase the pool of nurses at military treatment facilities, ease the hiring of medical personnel at remote installations and provide free dental care for junior members of the Reserves.
The legislation also bans military personnel from using nonpublic information to make bets on prediction markets — a “necessary and crucial step in safeguarding our national security and in maintaining the public trust in our military,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa.
The issue came to the forefront after an Army Special Forces soldier was indicted in April for using classified information to bet on the removal of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to debate and vote on its draft of the defense bill next week and final passage of the legislation is expected by the end of the year.
