The House of Representatives advanced a negotiated version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) late Wednesday, launching the enormous Pentagon budget package toward the Senate — but the vote immediately ignited outrage on the right. The bill, crafted behind closed doors with Democrats in both chambers, sailed forward on a bipartisan agreement that many conservative Republicans say betrays core America First priorities.
The final terms were stitched together by House and Senate leaders, meaning the Senate is expected to move the bill without major hurdles before sending it to President Donald Trump for his signature. But despite leadership’s confidence, the internal GOP revolt was impossible to hide.
Before the main vote, the House barely approved a procedural rule in a razor-thin 215–211 decision. The drama unfolded at the last moment, when Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Tim Burchett (R-TN), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) flipped from no to yes — even as every Democrat rejected the procedural measure. Their switch kept the bill alive but fueled even more scrutiny from the base.
Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to sell the compromise as a conservative win, pointing to provisions he says reshape the Pentagon’s priorities. According to Johnson, the NDAA boosts enlisted troop pay by 4%, wipes out DEI programming, targets rising antisemitism, cuts roughly $20 billion in what he calls “obsolete programs” and “Pentagon bureaucracy,” and includes measures meant to push back on the Chinese Communist Party.
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