“The United States House of Representatives passed a compromise version of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Act (NDAA). The massive bill, worth nearly $1 trillion, defines Pentagon policy and provides for continued military support for Ukraine, as well as measures to deter Russia and China.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: The HillReuters
Details: The draft law was supported by the vast majority of legislators of the lower house of Congress: 312 votes “for” – 112 “against”. Among those who did not support the document – 94 Democrats and 18 Republicans.
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A key element of the document for Kyiv is the continued funding of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). The draft law provides for allocation of 800 million dollars for Ukraine, distributed in equal parts of 400 million dollars for each of the next two years. This program allows the US administration to purchase weapons and equipment directly from manufacturers for transfer to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, instead of withdrawing them from existing US military arsenals.
In addition to aid to Ukraine, the document contains strong safeguards against the American presence in Europe. Against the background of President Donald Trump’s publication of a new National Security Strategy, which observers call friendly to the Russian Federation, Congress limited the Pentagon’s ability to reduce the number of troops in Europe to less than 76,000 people.
An additional $175 million was authorized for the Baltic Security Promotion Initiative for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Considerable attention in the budget is paid to the confrontation with China. The NDAA establishes a new investment screening process, requiring U.S. companies to report to the Treasury Department on strategic technology investments in the PRC, and empowering the Treasury Department to block such deals.
Also included in the defense budget is the Biosafety Act, which would freeze federal funding to Chinese biotech companies.
To deter a potential invasion of Taiwan, funding for a $1 billion security initiative and a joint program to deploy unmanned systems is planned.
The NDAA also provides $1.5 billion in new security assistance to the Philippines.
Regarding the Middle East, the bill guarantees full funding of the Iron Dome and David’s Sling anti-missile defense programs shared with Israel. It also calls for an ongoing assessment of international arms embargoes on Israel, such as those imposed in response to the Gaza war, and an assessment of whether the US can intervene to meet Israel’s arms needs.
At the same time, the document provides for the cancellation of harsh sanctions against Syria, introduced during the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and the cancellation of authorizations for the use of military force (AUMF) against Iraq from 1991 and 2002, which aims to return control of the declaration of wars to Congress.
Lawmakers have long argued that Congress has given the president too much power to use military force by enacting and not revoking broad and indefinite authorizations to wage war.
A separate point in the document envisages pressure on the current head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth. Lawmakers have blocked part of his travel budget until he provides unredacted footage of U.S. military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean suspected of drug smuggling, as well as copies of the orders that led to those operations.