Sponsor
Official title: Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2027, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 26, 2026 by Ken Calvert
Representative · R-CA
The bill strengthens military readiness, shipbuilding, and domestic defense industry support while increasing defense and foreign assistance spending and adding procurement, notification, and policy restrictions that may slow intelligence, program agility, raise acquisition costs, and limit certain humanitarian and research activities.
Service members and the U.S. military: the bill provides large, targeted budget increases (O&M, contingency, shipbuilding, sealift, submarine programs and other appropriations) that bolster readiness, sustain shipbuilding jobs, and maintain strategic sealift capacity.
U.S. manufacturers and domestic supply chains: Buy American and domestic-content requirements plus designated shipbuilding funds support U.S. industrial base and jobs in manufacturing and shipyards.
Operational managers and program offices at DoD: the bill gives DoD more short-term budget flexibility (reallocations, reprogramming authority up to $3.0B and waiver authorities) to meet unforeseen high‑priority needs or reduce personnel/financial requirements.
U.S. taxpayers and the federal budget: the bill authorizes substantial new defense and foreign assistance spending that increases federal outlays and could add to deficit pressures.
Intelligence community and national security operations: prohibitions and restrictions on use of funds for certain FISA §702/§501 activities and other acquisition constraints could limit collection and investigative capabilities used for counterterrorism and foreign intelligence.
Military operations and urgent responses: numerous pre‑obligation notifications, 15–30 day holds, and other added congressional notification requirements risk slowing urgent program moves, transfers, and operational agility in crises.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Sets DoD pay and hiring rules for foreign nationals, authorizes intra‑DoD transfers, restricts certain surveillance acquisitions, funds strategic sealift and Reserve Fleet programs, and requires expanded DoD financial reporting.
Provides annual funding rules, limits, and authorities for Department of Defense programs, personnel, procurement, and select maritime programs, and includes reporting and transfer authorities for DoD funds. It sets pay and hiring limits for certain DoD foreign-national employees, authorizes large intra‑DoD transfers for unforeseen military needs, restricts use of funds for specified surveillance acquisitions, and makes targeted appropriations and procurement requirements for strategic sealift and Navy shipbuilding components. Also imposes limits on conversion of civilian DoD functions to contractor performance, requires enhanced financial and contracting reporting from DoD, requires advance notifications to congressional defense committees for certain actions, and reduces the Act's total by a specified savings amount tied to business process modernization and AI efficiencies.