Overview
- The House Armed Services Committee published the chairman’s mark Tuesday that authorizes a $1.15 trillion discretionary topline and apportions about $1.1 trillion for Defense Department programs and nearly $42 billion for NNSA nuclear work.
- The draft bars the Navy from signing a construction contract for the Trump‑class battleship until the Secretary of the Navy certifies that the ship’s planned weapons systems meet a sufficiently mature technology readiness level, a measure aimed at curbing reliance on unproven hypersonics, railgun and high‑energy laser concepts.
- The bill authorizes tiered pay raises for service members—7% for E‑5 and below, 6% for E‑6 through O‑3, and 5% for O‑4 and above—and funds modest force growth across the services.
- A central theme is rebuilding the defense industrial base through procurement and workforce reforms, including multiyear buys, incentives for U.S. critical‑minerals processing, scholarships and a second supplier for solid‑rocket motors to reduce dependence on foreign refining.
- The chairman’s mark also boosts energy resilience, restricts certain foreign solar buys, funds over $7 billion for environmental cleanup and orders PFAS assessments; the bill goes to committee markup on June 4 and final funding will depend on a separate Senate NDAA and a pending $350 billion reconciliation request.