HASC adds funds for Virginia-class subs, Ukraine in FY26 policy bill

WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee passed its version of the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill on Tuesday night, adding $100 million for Ukraine, boosting Virginia-class submarine procurement funding by $1 billion, and prohibiting further retirements of the A-10 Warthog this year.

The panel pushed the National Defense Authorization Act out of committee in a bipartisan 55-2 vote, with only two Democrats, Reps. Ro Khanna and Sara Jacobs, voting against the bill.

Over the almost 14-hour mark up, the committee debated topics from the Golden Dome missile system to Signalgate, from intercontinental ballistic missile programs to a Qatari jetliner gifted to the Trump administration. However, Democrats struggled to get support on those matters, with most measures failing in a 27-30 vote split between party lines.

Ukraine emerged as one issue where there was some bipartisan agreement. Lawmakers from both parties shot down an amendment from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., which would have zeroed out $300 million for the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative authorized in the initial draft of the bill helmed by HASC Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

Mace argued that sending aid to Ukraine was a waste of money that would only increase the national debt and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “acted like an insolent child” during a meeting with President Donald Trump.

“Every dollar sent to Ukraine is $1 stolen from the American people,” she said. “Congress has continuously signed off on war on behalf of a country most people can’t find on a map. No one can coherently explain why it’s in our national interest to do this.”

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the committee’s top Democrat, pointed out that Mace had joined other House Republicans just earlier this month to pass the reconciliation bill, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated could add up to $3.4 trillion to the deficit through 2034.

“I just don’t think you should be able to talk about the debt after you take a vote like that,” he said.

“If the message is sent that you can simply take territory, if you have the military muscle to do it, that is a lesson that China will take,” Smith added. “If this proves to be a disaster for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, a mistake that costs Russia more than it gains, China will learn that lesson.”

Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said that “Trump is seeing through Putin right now and pivoting on his strategy with Ukraine,” having decided this week to send additional weapons to Kyiv. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Georgia, later added that, if America wants the war in Ukraine to end, it has to send Kyiv lethal aid.

Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana was the only Republican committee member that spoke on behalf of Mace’s Ukraine amendment, saying that it was “not true” that the GOP-led reconciliation bill would increase the debt, and that the measure only increases the debt limit — leading Smith to laugh in response.

“That’s a hard one to swallow,” Smith replied. “I apologize for laughing, but every single person who’s analyzed it, even your own side, agrees that you increased the debt. The disagreement is by how much.”

The committee once again came together on Ukraine later in the markup, approving an amendment from Smith that added $100 million to USAI, taking $84 million from Navy frigate development and $16 million from Navy test and evaluation support. The measure passed in a 47-10 vote.

Little Fight Over Acquisition

Policy and funding changes for key weapons programs were hardly debated during the markup. Instead, those provisions were included in large packages of noncontroversial amendments that were passed by the committee via voice vote throughout the day.

The most consequential of those changes is likely the addition of $1 billion for the Virginia-class submarine program, with funds being taken from a list of roughly two dozen other Navy line items. The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., stated that spending increase would “close a funding gap for the two Virgina-class submarines in the FY26 Navy spending plan.”

A separate amendment prohibited retirements of the A-10 Warthog in FY26 and mandates a report on the service’s plan to divest the close air support plane. The measure, coupled with a provision in the Senate version of the NDAA that sets a minimum inventory requirement for the A-10 in FY26, likely stalls Air Force plans to retire the entirety of its A-10 planes this year.

Other approved changes included:

• An amendment that prohibits the Defense Department from terminating its E-7 Wedgetail contract or to terminate the production line for the E-7 prototypes currently under development. (The HASC bill already authorizes an additional $600 million to keep the Wedgetail program going despite the department’s plans to cancel it.)
• A requirement for the Pentagon to submit a report on cybersecurity requirements for the Golden Dome missile shield
• Two amendments that require reports on sixth-generation fighter programs — one on the cost, schedule and acquisition strategy for the the Air Force’s F-47, and a separate mandate on the Navy’s F/A-XX program from the deputy secretary of defense.
• Multiple provisions concerning the F-35, including a briefing requirement on the status of the jet’s Technical Refresh 3 and Block 4 modernization initiative, as well as a briefing on the Pentagon’s plans to ramp up F-35 procurement
• A requirement for a Navy briefing on V-22 modernization
• Language requiring a Navy report on advanced technologies that could be incorporated into future aircraft carriers
• A requirement for the Army to submit a report on the modernization on the service’s reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting and acquisition capabilities
• A mandated briefing on the integration of artificial intelligence across the Pentagon

In a statement following the passage of the bill, HASC Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala, said the committee’s version of the NDAA “supports modernization and fundamentally reforms defense acquisition by cutting red tape, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles, and encouraging innovation.”

Democrats mostly lose on culture war amendments  

Republicans successfully defeated an amendment from Courtney that would have prohibited funding from being used to turn a Boeing 747 previously owned by the Qatari royal family into a new Air Force One plane. The measure died in a 27-30 vote, with no GOP support.

They also squashed two amendments related to the Golden Dome missile shield from Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., one of which would have curbed the Trump administration’s ability to field space-based interceptors.

A trio of nuclear modernization amendments by Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., failed to get the support necessary to become part of this year’s NDAA. One of those would have fenced off funding for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program until it reached Milestone B — a stipulation that would have effectively killed the program because additional funding is needed for the program to meet Milestone B requirements.

GOP members also batted down three amendments related to Signalgate. The most aggressive measure would have fenced off 75 percent of funds designated for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office until certain requirements were fulfilled, including a certification from the defense secretary that the department has a mechanism in place to prevent classified information from being shared on unsecured platforms or applications.

The least oppositional measure — drafted by Moulton with feedback from Bacon — did not mention Hegseth or Signalgate by name, instead expressing the general “sense of Congress” that that sharing operational information using an unsecured messaging platform could jeopardize mission success and servicemember safety. However, that amendment also failed, with only Bacon, who has announced he will not run for office again, joining Democrats to vote in its favor.

One shock victory for Democrats was the passage of an amendment that prohibits FY26 funding from being used to reverse the renaming of bases previously named for Confederate military figures, which was approved 29-29. However, the provision faces an uphill climb in terms of adoption in the final bill, as it is likely to face opposition from House Republicans when the bill moves to the floor or when it goes to conference proceedings with the Senate.

HASC and SASC will also have to work out more fundamental differences in their two bills, including differing approaches on defense acquisition reform and the bill’s topline spending figure, once the two bills move into conference deliberations. SASC leaders, which unveiled their version of the NDAA last week, want to add $32 billion to the authorization bill’s top line.