The House Armed Services Committee chairman released on Tuesday a proposed $1.15 trillion fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that emphasizes bolstering America’s defense industry.
The so-called “chairman’s mark” from Rep. Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., would authorize almost $1.15 trillion for the base-budget part of President Donald Trump’s record $1.5 trillion defense proposal for fiscal 2027. But fully $350 billion of Trump’s request would come via a separate reconciliation measure that Congress may have trouble enacting in this session.
A GOP aide on the House Armed Services Committee told reporters Tuesday the chairman’s mark did not attempt to “pad” its base budget measure with funding for priorities that the president offloaded onto the reconciliation request. Many of the administration’s top priorities — from drones to missile defense to munitions — are contained in the reconciliation request.
“We did not secret squirrel money away,” the aide said.
Rogers is “relatively confident that we’ll be able to achieve reconciliation this year,” the aide said. “But in the event we’re not, we will have those discussions with our appropriators and with the administration later in the year about how we cover those priority items, and munitions is at the very top of that list.”
