The bill marks the Pentagon’s first full-year appropriation since fiscal 2024 and moves Congress closer to ending a brief partial government shutdown. Lawmakers had initially approved the measure on Jan. 23, but disputes over Department of Homeland Security funding delayed Senate action and required a second House vote after the Senate added a two-week continuing resolution for DHS.
Because the House did not reconvene until early February, several agencies experienced a four-day shutdown, far shorter than the 43-day shutdown last fall that led the Pentagon to furlough 334,000 civilian employees. The Senate passed the revised bill on Jan. 30, clearing the way for final House approval.
The defense package directs billions toward Air Force modernization, including funding for the F-35, F-47, B-21, and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. It allocates $440 million for F-35 and F135 engine spare parts, $474 million for two additional Compass Call aircraft, and $976 million for six C-130J transports for the Air National Guard.
For the Space Force, the bill supports 11 National Security Space Launch missions and provides $4 billion for missile warning and tracking satellites and sensors. It also includes $13.4 billion to augment and integrate space and missile defense systems under the Golden Dome initiative, an effort not funded in the Pentagon’s base budget request and instead intended to rely partly on $25 billion in reconciliation funding approved last year.
Source: Air & Space Magazine.
