The US House of Representatives on Wednesday advanced the National Defense Authorization Act defense policy bill for the next fiscal year, sending it to the Senate for final passage.
Both Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly to approve the measure, which sets out the nation’s defense policy agenda and authorizes nearly $900 billion in funding for military programs, including a 3.8% pay raise for service members.
The bill passed the House by a majority of 312-112.
The bill includes significant pro-Israel provisions, including $500 million in 2026 for US-Israel missile defense cooperation. This includes funds for Israeli procurement of Iron Dome, David’s Sling and the Arrow missile system, and for bilateral research, development, testing and evaluation.
Other provisions include $80 million for the US-Israel Anti-Tunneling cooperative program and $35 million for US-Israel cooperation on emerging technologies, including directed energy, AI, cybersecurity, robotics, and quantum.
The bill also increases authorization for US-Israel cooperation on countering drones to $70 million, a $15 million increase from last year, and expands the program to unmanned systems across all warfighting domains.
Furthermore, it convenes the US-Israel Defense Industrial Base Working Group with a mandate to assess opportunities for deeper defense industrial base integration and potential Israeli entry into the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB).
The legislation expresses the sense of Congress that the Department of Defense must refrain from participating in any international defense exhibitions until the Secretary of Defense confirms that Israeli companies can fully and fairly take part. It also directs the Department to avoid any exhibitions that restrict or threaten to restrict Israel’s participation.
It also directs the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to continually assess the impact of international arms embargoes on Israel.
AIPAC welcomed the approval of bill, noting it “critically prioritizes US-Israeli defense cooperation to further enable both nations to counter missile, drone, and emerging high-tech threats.”
“In adopting these important provisions, we appreciate the leadership of Senators John Thune (R-SD), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Adam Smith (D-WA),” said AIPAC, which added it “urges the Senate to support the pro-Israel provisions in the FY26 NDAA.”
Beyond Israel, the bill includes a provision that increases pressure on the Pentagon to provide Congress with videos of its strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.
Other provisions in the NDAA would repeal 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force against Iraq, repeal sanctions on Syria, and seek to limit the Trump administration’s ability to significantly draw down troops from Europe.
Another provision aims to support efforts to recover Ukrainian children who have been abducted by Russia.