House panel advances DOD policy bill with sweeping acquisition reforms

House Armed Services Committee members passed their initial draft of the annual defense authorization bill Tuesday after a day of debates regarding potential censures of Pentagon leadership and President Donald Trump’s national security policies, with Republicans ultimately rejecting any Democratic-led reprimands.

The move comes less than a week after Senate Armed Services Committee members passed their own version of the bill, which sets defense policies and budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The legislation has been passed annually by Congress for more than six consecutive decades, despite increasing partisan tensions in recent years.

The House panel’s passage — by a 55-2 bipartisan vote, despite numerous objections from Democratic members — sets up possible consideration of the bill later this month by the full chamber and allows staffers to begin behind-the-scenes negotiations on a final draft.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., called the proposal “a strong bill that will help reform the acquisition system, revitalize the defense industrial base, and build the ready, capable, and lethal fighting force we need to deter China and our other adversaries.”

It prohibits a reduction in U.S. military posture on the Korean Peninsula or in Europe without congressional approval, and it includes $400 million for Ukraine support (about $200 million less than the Senate draft).

Like their Senate counterparts, Democrats on the House panel spent hours Tuesday unsuccessfully attempting to amend the authorization bill with a host of policies aimed at Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration leaders.

Several proposals criticized Hegseth for his use of unsecure messaging platforms to share details of military missions, as well as his focus on eliminating diversity and equity programs within the department.

But the Republican majority rejected all of those ideas. The final result is an authorization bill proposal that closely tracks with House leadership and administration priorities.

The committee also voted down a proposal from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., to zero out support for Ukraine, which she argued hurts other national security priorities. Both Republicans and Democrats on the panel rejected that assertion.

By a 29-28 margin, the committee did adopt a measure preventing the Defense Department from using any funds to revert the names of military bases back to titles related to Confederate figures, a proposal unveiled by Pentagon leaders last month.

But the language is likely to face significant opposition on the House floor, and may be removed before final passage there.

The biggest difference between the House and Senate drafts of the authorization bill — which still could be amended on their respective chamber floors — is the goal for total defense spending.

The Senate version outlines a $879 billion base budget for the Pentagon, about $32 billion above the White House request for fiscal 2026. The House sticks to the administration’s $847 billion plan.

Senate officials said the extra money would go toward priorities such as shipbuilding ($8.5 billion extra) and munitions ($6 billion more).

Both drafts include sweeping changes to the defense acquisition reform process, but with different approaches.

The House draft includes Rogers’ Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery Act, or SPEED Act, which would establish a new directorate to serve as a decision hub on those issues, with an eye toward faster development and production timelines.

The Senate version repeals or amends more than 100 provisions of statute “to streamline the defense acquisition process, reduce administrative complexity, and remove outdated requirements, limitations, and other matters.”

Chamber leaders have said the specific language in the respective drafts are not inherently in conflict and can be massaged in coming months to reach a common goal of speeding and simplifying equipment purchases.

That work is expected to drag into the fall. Despite lawmakers’ focus on passing the authorization bill annually, the measure has not been finalized until after Thanksgiving in 12 of the past 15 years.