Sweeping US defense bill passes, with Ukraine, Venezuela provisions defying Trump

Dec 18, 2025 News

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to advance a $901 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon, sending the massive piece of legislation to the White House, which has said President Donald Trump will sign it into law.

The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorisation Act, or NDAA, is a compromise between separate measures passed earlier this year in the House of Representatives and Senate. It authorises a record $901 billion in annual military spending, with a 4% pay raise for the troops. It also authorises reforms to the system for acquiring military equipment and includes efforts to boost competitiveness with U.S. archrivals China and Russia.

The Senate backed the bill by 77 to 20, with strong support from both parties. Two of the “no” votes were from Republican senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul.

“This will be the 65th year in a row, the 65th consecutive year, that Congress has come together across the aisle and across two chambers to send the president a bill designed to sustain and strengthen the national defense,” said Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican Senate Armed Services Committee chairman.

The House passed the bill last week, by 312 to 112, also with broad bipartisan support.

In a break with Trump, whose fellow Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate, this year’s NDAA includes several provisions to boost security in Europe, despite Trump’s release earlier this month of a National Security Strategy seen as friendly to Russia and a reassessment of the U.S. relationship with Europe.

The fiscal 2026 NDAA provides $800 million for Ukraine – $400 million in each of the next two years – as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays U.S. companies for weapons for Ukraine’s military. It also authorises the Baltic Security Initiative and provides $175 million to support Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia’s defense. And it limits the Department of Defense’s ability to drop the number of U.S. forces in Europe to fewer than 76,000 and bars the U.S. European Commander from giving up the title of NATO Supreme Commander.

WINS FOR BOTH PARTIES

Members of Congress take great pride in having passed the NDAA every year for more than six decades.

The measure’s record price tag is $8 billion more than Trump had requested.

This month a handful of Republicans and Democrats called for the addition of a provision to strengthen military helicopter safety rules, following a fatal crash between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people.

Company CEO and Chair Bom Kim declined to attend a parliamentary hearing in Seoul Wednesday.

Anger over that issue was not strong enough to derail the NDAA. Senate leaders have promised to address it in upcoming legislation. The NDAA also repeals the tough “Caesar” sanctions imposed on Syria under its former leader Bashar al-Assad. And it has a provision to withhold a chunk of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget if he does not provide Congress with unedited videos of military strikes on boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The Trump administration has said the strikes are directed at Venezuelan drug-traffickers.

The Senate vote came a day after Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, his latest move to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government. It repeals the 1991 and 2002 Authorisations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) against Iraq, an attempt to reassert Congress’ role in deciding to send troops into combat. During his first term, Trump said the 2002 AUMF provided legal authority for the 2020 killing in Iraq of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.

The NDAA does not include funding to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, an idea championed by Trump but a change that cannot be formalised without congressional approval. However, it includes some of the “culture war” efforts popular with politicians on the U.S. right. One measure bars transgender women from participating in athletic programs designated for women at U.S. military academies. It also codifies into law executive orders by Trump ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the Pentagon.

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Donald Trump, legislation, Pentagon, US defense bill, Venezuela

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