NDAA sets default approval for troops to carry firearms on military bases

The House of Representatives voted 215-214 Tuesday night to accept the approval by default if qualified service members and Pentagon civilian employees ask commanders for permission to carry personal firearms on military installations.

Three Democrats joined a majority of Republicans in approving the measure, while three Republicans and Rep. Kevin Kiley, an independent from California, opposed it.

Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo. The amendment made by does not automatically authorize personnel to carry firearms on military property. This will create a presumption that installation commanders approve requests from qualified service members and civilian employees.

The vote comes less than a year after an Army sergeant allegedly used a personal handgun to shoot five soldiers at Fort Stewart, Georgia, in August 2025. Other soldiers tackled and disarmed him, and all five victims survived. Personal firearms were prohibited on post at the time, military officials said.

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The National Defense Authorization Act has been signed into law every year for more than six decades and has traditionally been one of Congress’ most significant bipartisan bills; But the firearms and transgender policy provisions passed Tuesday threatened to weaken Democratic support; potentially forcing Republican leaders to rely on narrow majorities for final passage and creating new sticking points in final negotiations with the Senate.

Lawmakers approved an amendment by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that would ban TRICARE from covering transition-related hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries for service members and military-connected individuals.

The article was approved by a vote of 219-208; five Democrats voted yes and one Republican voted no. This would expand the Trump administration’s existing restrictions and write the ban into federal law.

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The House also voted 221-203 to approve the second Mace amendment, which would ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports at Department of Defense Educational Activities schools that serve military families.

But lawmakers rejected a separate amendment filed by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) that would have codified President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order barring transgender troops from military service and requiring personnel to serve according to their biological sex.

The amendment failed 217-212, with four Republicans joining all voting Democrats in opposition.

Lawmakers also rejected Rep. Eli Crane’s (R-Ariz.) attempt to largely eliminate funding for the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The amendment would only allow funding for security at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev.

Seventy-six Republicans supported the proposal at the GOP conference, underscoring continued opposition to military aid to Ukraine.

The House rejected another proposal to ban foreign nationals from attending U.S. military academies by a vote of 360 to 61. The change would end long-standing programs that trained officers from allied and partner nations at institutions such as West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy.

Among other changes, lawmakers voted to eliminate a proposed pilot program that would use voice-based risk assessment technology to identify service members for drug testing.

Members of the Texas National Guard gather at the Army Reserve Training Center in Elwood, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, on Oct. 7, 2025. (Getty Images)

The House also narrowly approved language aimed at ensuring the continued operation of California’s Santa Ynez Pipeline System, which transports crude oil to refineries that supply military installations. This measure exceeded 215-214.

The votes come as lawmakers begin working on changes to the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. The House made 320 amendments available for consideration; That was eight more than the number included in the procedural package that collapsed last month amid a Republican revolt against the SAVE America Act.

Discussions on the amendments are expected to continue on Wednesday with a vote on the final legislation after lawmakers finish considering the remaining proposals.

The base bill would authorize roughly $1.15 trillion for national defense; That’s about $252 billion more than Congress appropriated for defense programs in fiscal year 2026. It would provide wage increases ranging from 5% to 7% for service members, expand weapons and ammunition production, and accelerate investment in missile defense, autonomous systems, hypersonics and other emerging technologies.

The NDAA sets defense policy and approves spending levels, but it does not provide the money itself. Congress must also pass a defense appropriations bill to fund the programs and priorities included in the bill.

The legislation would also formally change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, and references in federal law to the secretary of defense and his department would be deemed to mean the secretary and the Department of War.

The legislation had been delayed for three weeks because of a separate fight by Republicans over the SAVE America Act, the election law that requires Trump to have proof of citizenship to register to vote and ID to vote in federal elections.

The House passed the Save America Act by a vote of 218 to 213 in February, but the measure stalled in the Senate, where Republicans lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster.

Republican leaders initially tried to revive the election bill by directing the House clerk to merge it with the NDAA after the defense bill was passed but before the combined package was sent to the Senate. This approach would convey the two measures as a single bill, without making the Save America Act part of the NDAA text being debated on the floor.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks in the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol after winning the presidency on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

But the procedural rule allowing that plan failed 198-224 on June 30, with 13 Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. also voted against the rule for procedural reasons.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., argued that adding the ballot measure through a procedural maneuver would make it easier for the Senate to remove it and demanded that lawmakers add it directly to the NDAA.

Luna later adopted the original approach after Speaker Mike Johnson committed to adding the SAVE America Act to appropriations and other legislation that needed to be passed.

The House on Tuesday approved an amendment rule that once again directs the clerk to merge the election bill into the NDAA before sending it to the Senate, increasing the number of defensive amendments eligible for consideration from 312 to 320.

The SAVE America Act was still expected to face opposition in the Senate and could be eliminated once lawmakers reconcile the House and Senate versions of the defense bill.

The Senate’s NDAA also faced its own problems. Senate Democrats blocked consideration of their chamber’s defense bill last week in protest of the Trump administration’s war with Iran, leaving both chambers with work to do before negotiating a final package.

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The controversy comes as the Pentagon is seeking additional money to cover the Iran war and replenish its weapons stockpile. The White House requested an additional package of $87.6 billion, $67.1 billion of which was for defense needs.

House Republicans are also considering a new compromise package that could provide $60 billion through the Armed Services Committee and $13 billion for intelligence programs. Reconciliation would allow the package to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass without Democratic support, but the proposal still faces resistance from GOP fiscal hawks and an uncertain path through Congress.