The US Congress approves a record-high defense budget, exceeding Trump's expectations
Dec 18, 2025
Washington [US], December 18: On December 17, the US Senate voted to pass the $901 billion 2026 defense budget bill and sent it to President Donald Trump for signing before the year-end holiday.
The US defense budget , officially known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2026, marks a compromise between various bills previously passed in both houses of the US Congress.
Specifically, the NDAA approved a 4% pay raise for soldiers, authorized reforms to the military procurement system, and included efforts to enhance America's competitiveness against major rivals such as China and Russia.
The US Senate passed the NDAA 2026 with a vote of 77-20. Last week, the US House of Representatives also passed the bill with a vote of 312-112. The bill is over $8 billion higher than President Trump's initial proposal.
Contrary to President Trump's views, this year's NDAA includes several provisions aimed at strengthening security for Europe, despite the National Security Strategy (NSS) released earlier this month taking a more favorable stance toward Russia and moving toward a reassessment of US-Europe relations.
The NDAA 2026 provides $800 million to Ukraine, with $400 million per year for the next two years. This is part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, under which the U.S. pays domestic companies to supply weapons to the Ukrainian military.
The act also greenlit the Baltic Security Initiative and allocated $175 million in defense assistance to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The NDAA 2026 also limits the Defense Department's ability to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Europe to below 76,000 and prohibits the Commander of U.S. Forces Europe from relinquishing his role as Supreme Commander of NATO.
Notably, the NDAA 2026 does not include funding to rename the Department of Defense to "Department of War." This is an idea supported by Mr. Trump but cannot be implemented without the approval of Congress.
Source: Thanh Nien
