July 21, 2026
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NTU urges all Representatives to vote “NO” on H.R. 8800, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This bill would authorize a 28% increase in defense spending over last year’s enacted level, without any plan to pay for it. While the proposed increase is less than the $1.5 trillion funding level that the President requested, it does not include the proposed increased defense appropriations in “Reconciliation 3.0,” or the $156 billion spending infusion included in the One Big Beautiful Bill. While our nation’s perilous national security environment may merit additional defense spending, taxpayers cannot afford this proposed $1.15 trillion topline without offsets to pay for it. With our current federal debt level at $39.62 trillion, increasing by $15.5 billion per day, it is time to get our nation’s fiscal house in order.
Year after year, NTU warns lawmakers that they are authorizing and appropriating far too many taxpayer dollars for defense spending. This has been the case for budgets passed by Republican-controlled Congresses and Democratic-controlled Congresses, under Republican and Democratic presidents, in times of war and in times of relative peace. Our nation’s national security environment is more challenging this year, but taxpayers simply cannot afford continuing to pay for our nation’s defense on a federal credit card whose balance has increased by $2.6 trillion in the last year alone. It is time for lawmakers to pivot away from decades of profligacy in federal spending and begin reducing deficits. This politically-challenging pivot should occur for both defense and non-defense discretionary spending, and, of course, lawmakers should also pursue long-term reforms for the 60% of spending that is effectively on autopilot as mandatory spending.
While we must oppose this bill due to the unaffordable topline number, we do appreciate the number of innovative provisions included in this legislation. It proposes improvements in portfolio acquisition and supply chain resiliency, requires improved staff and program performance metrics, encourages the expansion of the defense industrial base to include new and innovative firms, and adds “right to repair” language to ensure our soldiers can maintain weapons on the battlefield. While the bill still funds wasteful projects like the the F-35 and the Constellation frigate programs, it does start shifting resources toward projects better suited to defend the homeland and project strength abroad. Lawmakers should continue to support the Trump Administration’s efforts to modernize our defensive strategy, improve defense procurement, and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. Congress can do this by ending attempts to keep unneeded projects alive and no longer funding new wasteful pet defense spending projects. Congress should also enhance the ability of its watchdogs (like the Government Accountability Office) to study wasteful spending at the Department of Defense and ensure that the Pentagon can finally pass an audit.
Absent appropriate overall reductions to the authorized levels of spending in H.R. 8800, as well as appropriate directional changes in key defense programs, lawmakers should reject this legislation.
Roll call votes on H.R. 8800 will be included in NTU’s annual Rating of Congress and “NO” votes will be considered the pro-taxpayer position.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU Senior Policy Manager David Timmons at dtimmons@ntu.org
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