The House Armed Services Committee advanced a supplemental spending plan on April 29, lining up approximately $150 billion in new funding to support several of President Donald Trump’s top military priorities.
Committee members voted 35–21 to pass the military spending proposal during a markup hearing.
Congressional Republicans prepared this new funding legislation as a reconciliation bill.
The reconciliation process allows Congress to pass legislation concerning taxation and government spending without having to gain the 60 Senate votes needed to invoke cloture and avoid a filibuster.
Republicans are looking to advance several such reconciliation bills in the coming days to help Trump deliver on his broader policy agenda.
This reconciliation bill for military spending will now be added to a broader continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the remainder of fiscal year 2025.
The reconciliation bill for military spending provides $25 billion this year to kickstart Trump’s plan to overhaul the U.S. missile defense network.
In a January executive order, Trump laid out a plan for what he originally called an “Iron Dome for America.”
The new missile defense plan, which Trump has since rebranded as a “Golden Dome for America,” includes proposals to improve several existing missile defense technologies and to develop new systems like space-based interceptors to more effectively block advanced missile threats.
Other top priorities in the military spending supplemental include $34 billion to boost shipbuilding and $21 billion to replenish depleted munitions stockpiles.
The proposal also assigns around $14 billion for various innovation projects, including low-cost attritable weapons systems, $13 billion for efforts to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and $12 billion for general readiness projects like base infrastructure projects and efforts to boost stocks of spare parts.
Another $11 billion would go toward the U.S. military’s Pacific components to conduct training exercises and bolster regional defenses.
Another $7 billion would support various projects to enhance existing aircraft and develop new ones.
This would include $400 million to boost the development of the recently announced F-47 stealth fighter jet.
Border security would also get a spending boost.
The supplemental lays out $5 billion for Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security efforts to prevent illegal border crossings, and to conduct immigration and counter-drug enforcement operations.
The bill calls for around $9 billion more for quality of life improvements for military personnel and their families.
The additional funding would increase allowances for housing, health care, and family assistance programs.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), by contrast, cast doubts as to whether the Defense Department could make efficient use of the new funding.
Smith, who is the committee’s ranking member, said: “I cannot support throwing another $150 billion that I absolutely guarantee you will not be well spent.”
Democrats on the House committee’s minority submitted 21 amendments to the Republican-led reconciliation bill, all of which failed to make it in.
Smith and other committee Democrats used the hearing to reiterate concerns about recent incidents in which Hegseth discussed military operations on the Signal messaging application.
Billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been advising the Trump administration and has been designated as a special government employee.
Committee Democrats offered other amendments to block the Department of Defense from relieving senior officers of their commands or terminating different groups of civilian employees.
