WASHINGTON —The House Armed Services Committee has unveiled its $1.15 trillion defense policy bill for fiscal 2027, with lawmakers putting their legislative muscle into boosting weapons production for critical munitions, fighter jets and warships.
The bill authorizes the amount requested in the president’s FY27 discretionary request but does not factor in the $350 billion in the Pentagon’s mandatory funding request, which would bring national security spending to $1.5 trillion in FY27. Whether the department gets that funding will depend on if Republicans can muster the political willpower to push through another reconciliation bill — a tall order as GOP lawmakers are still working to pass a separate reconciliation bill centered around immigration enforcement.
HASC will debate amendments and mark up the bill on June 4 in what is typically a marathon session that stretches late into the night.
Rather than big changes to the annual funding levels for weapons programs, HASC Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., focused on the long-term expansion of the defense industrial base.
“We no longer have the capacity to build the capability for the war fighter at scale and speed. In some cases, manufacturing capacity just doesn’t exist,” said a senior majority committee staffer, who spoke to reporters on background.
