A BREAKDOWN OF THE 2026 NDAA: WHAT’S IN, WHAT’S OUT

After struggling to gain House approval on Wednesday, the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) breezed through Senate approval on Thursday. While some of President Trump’s desired outcomes were not achieved, approval of the NDAA was seen as a victory for the Republicans. In the end, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees added about $8 billion more to the total amount requested by the Department of Defense (DoD). However, this included language that gives Congress specific oversight power over how the FY2026 budget will be executed by the DoD.

So, what’s in and what’s out of the FY2026 NDAA? More importantly, what did Congress specifically say about how the FY2026 budget will be executed? The final FY2026 NDAA includes a variety of provisions covering military personnel, national security, and policy changes. In the end, it was a compromise bill as compared to the hard-right draft version passed by the House in September.

Here’s much, but not all, of what’s in the FY2026 NDAA.

Military Personnel & Quality of Life

• A 3.8% pay raise for all service members: All active-duty and reserve service members will receive a 3.8% pay raise beginning on January 1, 2026. This raise is slightly lower than recent years but higher than the decade prior, linked to inflation.
• Mental Health Focus: Directs assessments of mental health staffing, wait times, and telehealth; prioritizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) for mental health; expands services for Cyber Forces.
• Research: Mandates studies on long-term health effects for Special Forces, cancer rates for rotary craft crews, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in pilots.
• Provider Partnerships: Improves coordination between military and civilian providers for the National Disaster Medical System.
• Child Care in Your Home Pilot: Extends the program, providing fee assistance for in-home care until 2029.
• Childcare Worker Pay Pilot: Requests a pilot program to boost caregiver compensation, improving quality and affordability.
• Military Spouse Support: Addresses relocation challenges, focusing on school enrollment, credit transfers, and special education continuity.
• Military Education (DoDEA): Requires reports on cell phone usage and screen time effects in DoD schools.
• Includes provisions to improve military housing.

Maternity/Parental Leave Provisions in the 2026 NDAA

• Flexibility for Active Duty: Supports taking parental leave over a two-year period after a qualifying event (birth, adoption, foster placement).
• Reserve Component Parity: Extends parental leave benefits (including pay as inactive duty training) to drilling reservists, creating more equality with active duty.
• Performance Evaluation Exemptions: Exempts service members from performance evaluations if they take parental leave exceeding 31 consecutive days.
• Broader Federal Support: Aligns with the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPPL), which offers up to 12 weeks of paid leave for federal employees for new parents.

National Security & Foreign Policy

• Government Operations and Security: Codifies 15 executive orders from President Trump, such as terminating certain Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs within the government and securing the southern border.
• International Affairs and Defense:
  • Continues the prohibitions on the purchase and use of Russian energy and extends the freeze on Russian assets.
  • It places restrictions on the withdrawal of service members currently positioned in Europe.
  • It contains provisions designed to bolster Taiwan's defenses and enhance military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel.
  • Provides $800 million for Ukraine — $400 million for each of the next two years – as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays US companies for weapons for Ukraine's military.
  • Authorizes the Baltic Security Initiative and provides $175 million to support Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia's defenses.
• Drug Trafficking: Allocates over $1 billion in funding specifically to fight drug trafficking.

Defense Operations & Acquisition

• Major acquisition reforms to cut red tape and accelerate the delivery of new capabilities to warfighters.
• Support for the development of new nuclear energy technologies and full funding for ongoing nuclear modernization programs.
• The elimination of $20 billion in obsolete weapons and inefficient Pentagon bureaucracy.
• Expanded counter-drone defenses and investments in hypersonics, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence research.
• The USAF’s nascent E-7 Wedgetail program, which has faced the axe under the Trump administration, received provisions aimed at preventing the Wedgetail’s termination. Lawmakers authorized a total of $846.7 million to continue the radar plane’s development and procurement.
• The USAF C-40 program gets $250 million authorized for one plane. The agreement would further direct a Pentagon-wide analysis of alternatives, with a deadline of April 2026, for recapitalizing the executive airlift fleets of each of the military services.
• Includes a big change in the USAF’s minimum number of tankers. By October 2028, the USAF would be required to keep at least 502 tankers in inventory, up from a current requirement of 466.
• Slows some of the USAF’s planned retirements, including by stopping the full divestment of the service’s A-10 fleet in FY26. Also prevents the USAF from retiring any F-15Es in FY26.
• No additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighter procurements, but includes an extra $250 million boost to spare parts procurement for F-35As and $125 million each for F-35Bs and Cs.
• Directs the Air Force Secretary to coordinate with the DoD undersecretary for intelligence and security to study the “feasibility and advisability of establishing a program of record for tactical surveillance, reconnaissance, and tracking capabilities” (TacSRT) by July 31, 2026.

What’s Out of the FY2026 NDAA?

• Despite strong bipartisan support, "Right-to-Repair" provisions were ultimately removed from the final NDAA text. This language would have empowered service members to repair their own equipment and would have mandated that contractors furnish the military with comprehensive repair and maintenance documentation. The removal followed significant opposition from the defense industry.
• IVF coverage: The final bill does not contain an expansion of coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) for military families.
• The final bill language excluded provisions aimed at protecting both Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the work of the Naming Commission responsible for renaming military bases with Confederate ties. Conversely, the approved legislation incorporates language mandating the termination of DEI programs within the Department of Defense (DoD).
• Provisions addressing the hard-won collective bargaining rights of civilian employees were ultimately excluded from the final version of the NDAA.
• The SAFE Research Act, which sought to prevent federal research agencies from funding researchers collaborating with "foreign adversaries," was ultimately omitted from the final conference bill.
• The final bill did not include a general prohibition on the DoD funding gender-related medical treatment, though it did contain a provision addressing transgender athletes competing for military academies.
• The final NDAA did not include any funding or provisions related to President Trump's proposed renaming of the Department of Defense to the "Department of War."
• The final version notably lacks key provisions aimed at protecting public funds by preventing price gouging on the part of defense contractors; these measures were removed.

The Senate Advances the NDAA

With Senate passage secured, the FY2026 NDAA now moves into its final legislative phase. Senate approval clears one of the last major procedural hurdles, but the bill is not yet law. Differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions—particularly on social policy provisions, workforce issues, and congressional oversight authorities—must still be resolved through the conference process.

Once a final conference agreement is reached, both chambers will be required to vote again on the negotiated text. Only after passage by both the House and the Senate in identical form will the NDAA be sent to the White House for the president’s signature.

Until the conference process concludes, key provisions—both those included and those left out—remain subject to change. That said, Senate action this week significantly increases the likelihood that the FY2026 NDAA will be enacted before the start of the new fiscal year, continuing Congress’s long-standing streak of passing the annual defense authorization bill.

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