Updated on December 18, 2025, at 8:33 pm EST
President Trump on Thursday signed the massive $901 billion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act into law, which will be combined with a supplemental spending bill he signed earlier this year to give him a more than $1 trillion military budget.
While the true cost of US military and national security spending has exceeded $1 trillion for many years, this marks the first time the official military budget is over $1 trillion, though it was done in an unconventional way by combining the NDAA with a $156 billion supplemental that was part of the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The NDAA passed through the Senate on Wednesday in a vote of 77-20, with just two Republicans, Senators Rand Paul (KY) and Mike Lee (UT), and 18 Democrats voting against it. Last week, the House approved the bill in a vote of 312-112.
Notable amendments include a provision directing the Selective Service System (SSS) to register all potential draftees in the US automatically. According to Edward Hasbrouk, an expert on the Selective Service, it marks the biggest change to the system since 1980.
The NDAA also includes a new provision to ensure Israel is not impacted by global arms restrictions that have been imposed in response to its genocidal war in Gaza. The amendment requires a review of the arms restrictions and says the US will take steps to “mitigate” any “gaps” it may find.
The NDAA formally lifts the Caesar Act sanctions that were imposed on Syria in 2020 and were designed to prevent the country’s reconstruction until the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad, which happened last year, when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, took power in Damascus.
The spending bill includes at least two provisions that go against President Trump’s agenda, including amendments to block troop drawdowns from Europe and South Korea, and one that requires the Pentagon to release to Congress videos of its bombings of alleged drug boats in Latin America.
If the Pentagon doesn’t hand over the videos, the amendment would withhold a quarter of the travel budget for US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who has been under increasing scrutiny due to the September 2 bombing that involved multiple strikes to kill survivors.
