Congress remains deadlocked over the fiscal year (FY) 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with separate procedural disputes in the House and Senate preventing lawmakers from advancing their respective versions of the defense policy bill and delaying negotiations on a final package.
The impasse leaves one of Congress’ most significant annual legislative measures unfinished as lawmakers work to establish defense policy for FY 2027.
Both measures authorize $1.15 trillion for FY 2027, reflecting the administration’s discretionary defense budget request but excluding the administration’s proposed $350 billion in additional defense spending through budget reconciliation.
Both chambers must first pass their versions of the NDAA before negotiators can reconcile differences. Any compromise measure must then be approved by both the House and Senate before being sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.
In the Senate, lawmakers have yet to begin floor consideration after a July 14 cloture vote on the motion to proceed failed, 50-46. Senate Democrats voted against beginning debate, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., citing objections to Trump’s Iran war and the bill’s overall funding level.
A motion to reconsider remains pending, but the chamber has not taken additional procedural action.
“The national defense authorization act, something that Congress has done every year now for the last 65 years,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters July 15. “The Democrats blocked it. Every single one. … This is an issue that ought to be bipartisan. It’s about the national security interest of this country.”
Schumer defended Democrats’ opposition, telling reporters July 15, “The real danger to national security is this war that’s out of control. It’s this war that has alienated our allies. It’s this war that has totally, totally, totally diminished American power and ability to defend ourselves in the world.”
The House also remains stalled after lawmakers rejected the procedural rule for debating the NDAA, 198-224, on June 30.
The rule would have allowed consideration of 312 amendments and would have attached the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act to the bill before sending it to the Senate if the NDAA passed.
The rule failed after 13 Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it, arguing House leaders had not gone far enough to tie the SAVE America Act’s voter identification provisions to the defense bill. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., also voted against the rule as a procedural maneuver that allows House Republican leaders to bring the measure back for another vote.
After tabling a motion to reconsider the failed vote on July 13, House leaders advanced a revised rule through the Rules Committee on July 20 – this time with 320 amendments.
The House is scheduled to vote on the new rule on July 21, which would allow floor consideration of the NDAA if adopted.