House Speaker Mike Johnson is receiving a crucial boost of support as he looks to pass the annual defense policy bill as early as Wednesday afternoon.
The White House is urging lawmakers to support the 3,000-plus page bill rolled out late Sunday evening, according to a statement of administration policy (SAP) obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation. President Donald Trump’s support for the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) comes as several conservative Republicans have criticized the sprawling legislation for authorizing additional security assistance funding to Ukraine and omitting text banning a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as well as DEI-related items. (RELATED: Here’s What’s In Major Defense Bill The Senate Just Passed During Shutdown)
“This NDAA will enable the Department of War (DoW) to carry out President Trump’s Peace Through Strength agenda, protect the homeland, and strengthen the defense industrial base, while eliminating funding for wasteful and radical programs that undermine the warfighting ethos of our Nation’s men and women in uniform,” the White House document reads in part.
“If S. 1071 was presented to the President in its current form, he would sign it into law,” the document also says.
The White House and Johnson have praised the legislation for codifying 15 of Trump’s executive orders, including directives terminating DEI in the military, supporting the president’s “Golden Dome” defense project and revitalizing America’s defense industrial base.
The proposed legislation authorizes $900.6 billion for the War department, just over $8 billion more than the president’s budget request earlier this year.
The defense policy bill includes a 3.8% pay increase for U.S. service members beginning Jan. 1. The high-profile legislation also restricts some investment in China, repeals decades-old Iraq War and Gulf War laws and cracks down on Chinese-made technologies in the military’s supply chains.
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 3: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) takes a question from a reporter outside his office at the U.S. Capitol Building on December 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Given House Republicans’ razor-thin majority, Johnson can afford to spare just a handful of votes if all Democrats are present and oppose the legislation.
One initial House critic of this year’s NDAA, Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, said she would support the measure following Johnson agreeing to include one of her provisions in the bill. Stefanik’s provision would require the FBI to disclose when the bureau surveills candidates running for president and other federal offices.
Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is retiring from Congress in January 2026, is the only confirmed Republican “no” vote on the legislation so far. She argued the defense policy bill will “fund foreign aid and foreign country’s wars” on social media Monday.
“I would love to fund our military but refuse to support foreign aid and foreign militaries and foreign wars,” Greene wrote on X.
Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has sharply criticized the legislation for authorizing $400 million in new security assistance funding for Ukraine. She has not specified how she plans to vote when the bill hits the floor.
Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who voted against the initial House draft of the NDAA in September, could also oppose the Trump-backed legislation.
The Senate is expected to consider the compromise NDAA bill next week assuming the legislation is approved by the House.
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