US House passes defense bill including $750 million for security ties with Israel

Progressive Democrats fail to block budget framework, which now goes to Senate for approval; bill includes funding for operations in Iran

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly passed its version of a massive defense policy bill, despite Democrats’ concerns about its huge price tag, the Iran war, and a provision that would boost Pentagon ties to Israel.

The fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which authorizes an unprecedented $1.15 trillion in spending for the military, passed the House 216 to 212.

The vote was largely along party lines, with all but seven Republicans voting in favor of the measure and all but six Democrats voting against.

The NDAA includes several provisions that allocate $750 million to US-Israel joint military projects.

The funds include “$500 million for missile defense, $100 million for counter‑unmanned systems, $100 million for subterranean operations, and $50 million for emerging technologies. The bill also extends the War Reserves Stockpile Authority–Israel,” AIPAC said in a statement.

“We applaud the inclusion of a new provision that will help keep America safe and bolster our strategic capabilities — the United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative. This authorizes the Pentagon to work even closer together with Israel in the strategic arenas that will define 21st‑century warfare, ensuring American troops have a greater edge over our adversaries,” it added.

Progressive Democrats sought to rally against the provision that boosted Israeli-US security cooperation, falsely claiming that it would integrate the countries’ intelligence services. However, the effort ultimately failed.

Last week, nearly half of House Democrats voted for a measure to cut off all military aid to Israel, reflecting the growing rupture between the party and Israel. Democrats on the party’s left flank have been strongly pushing to end US military aid to Israel entirely amid the midterm election primary campaigns, while its establishment wing wants to limit the assistance to solely defensive weaponry.

The plan passed on Wednesday also provides $73 billion for the armed forces and intelligence agencies, notably to fund operations linked to the war against Iran, as well as $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

An additional $10 billion would go toward election-related programs as part of Trump’s push to enact new nationwide voting restrictions while his broader “SAVE America Act” lacks enough support to proceed.

Democrats also objected to the large amount of money being authorized for the Pentagon, at a time when US President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans are slashing spending on social programs.

They also object to the ongoing and deeply unpopular war with Iran, which the Pentagon said has cost the US $37.5 billion so far.

The budget package represents the GOP’s last major legislative push before November’s midterm elections, the outcome of which will determine whether the party retains its majority in Congress and thus continues to shape the remainder of Trump’s second term.

If approved by the Senate, the resolution, which for now is only a budget framework, would allow House Republicans to draft detailed legislation later in the summer.

The aim would then be to try to pass it in the Senate by a simple majority using an expedited budget procedure, thereby bypassing the usual 60-vote threshold and Democratic opposition.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the measure approved Wednesday “puts Congressional Republicans on a path to enacting two fundamentally simple and crucial goals: securing American elections and strengthening our homeland.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican, said during the House debate that the money would be used for “supporting our troops in their time of need: Just baseline battlefield readiness, bullets and bombs to finish the job and to come home safely and victoriously.”

Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro, meanwhile, denounced a measure that would allow Trump to finance the continuation of his war against Iran.

“The American people do not want more open-ended, aimless, expensive, and deadly wars in the Middle East. They want the price of basic necessities like food, housing, healthcare, childcare, and gasoline to go down,” she said.

Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, senior Democrat on the budget panel, urged defeat of the bill, saying it would add nearly $100 billion in new government deficits at a time when the national debt is racing toward $40 trillion.

“Nothing to lower gas prices. Nothing to lower food prices… just more spending on the most unpopular war in American history,” Boyle said.

The non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Budget cautioned that the $95 billion price tag outlined in the Republican budget plan would actually swell to $130 billion when interest payments on the borrowed money are included.

It also noted that with this third special funding bill, using a procedure called reconciliation, lawmakers have been asked to “tolerate shortcomings” with promises that future legislation will reduce the deficit. So far, that has not materialized.