The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a sweeping defense policy bill Wednesday, approving a historic $1.15 trillion budget for the Pentagon amid uncertainty on the future of the Iran war.
The increased budget, up from the $900.6 billion authorized last year, raised concerns among lawmakers who felt they should cease funding the war in Iran, especially as the U.S. faces mounting debt.
The House passed its fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 216-212, with three representatives sustaining from voting. A large majority of Republicans, 209, voted in favor of the bill, and 205 Democrats voted against it. Seven Republicans and six Democrats strayed from party lines.
The bill would have the Department of Defense officially adopt a name change to Department of War. The massive bill also includes a 5% to 7% pay raise for military service members, an increase in active-duty force size and a mandate to revert the names of nine southern military bases to those recommended in 2023 to replace Confederate honorifics.
In the Wednesday session, House lawmakers took to the floor to debate the bill, with some alleging its necessity to safeguard America both domestically and abroad. Policymakers on either sides of the aisle placed the blame on the other.
“The Democrats have gone on time and time again with this unprecedented obstruction,” House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said in the session. “Recently, they blocked the National Defense Authorization Act to protest President Trump and our troops’ efforts to stop this radical terrorist regime from having nuclear weapons,” Arrington said, referring to Senate Democrats blocking that chamber’s version of the 2027 NDAA last week.
Other lawmakers said the bill’s high price tag would cost American taxpayers too much during a time when citizens are already struggling, and as the country is in the midst of a widely unpopular war in Iran.
“Most of that [new deficit] spending is for President Trump’s Iran war, a reckless decision with absolutely no plan on how to achieve victory and how it would end,” House Budget Committee Ranking Member Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said during the session.
“There’s nothing in [the reconciliation bill] whatsoever to bring down costs,” Boyle continued. “Just more spending on the most unpopular war in American history.”
The Iran war has cost the Defense Department $37.5 billion to date, Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators Tuesday. Hegseth testified during a hearing to request $67.1 billion in supplemental money for the war and other DoD expenses.
Historically seen by both parties as “must-pass legislation,” the NDAA is one of the few major bills that always gets through Congress, having become law for 65 straight years.
This year’s bill faces major challenges, given deep partisan divisions within Congress on issues ranging from the massive size of the military budget, to the Iran war and aid to Israel and Ukraine.
It is early in the NDAA process.
Each year, the House and Senate pass their own versions of the NDAA, before Armed Services committee negotiators agree on compromise version that then comes up for a vote in each chamber.
If the compromise version passes, it would be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Cristina Stassis is a reporter covering stories surrounding the defense industry, national security, military/veteran affairs and more. She previously worked as an editorial fellow for Defense News in 2024 where she assisted the newsroom in breaking news across Sightline Media Group.
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