Senate advances 2026 NDAA defense bill amid ongoing government shutdown

The Senate introduced its version of a massive package Thursday that would allow funding for the Pentagon amid the ongoing government shutdown.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2026 (NDAA), which has been gathering dust for more than a month as lawmakers try to overcome holds on the bill, was passed in the upper chamber on a bipartisan vote. The legislation would authorize approximately $925 billion in defense spending.

However, the bill’s successful advancement after a marathon vote on the amendments in the Senate comes as the government enters its 9th day of a government shutdown with no clear end in sight. Lawmakers in the upper house aren’t expected to return until Tuesday, but they have assured military service members won’t get their paychecks next week.

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Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., formally announced the breakthrough on the Senate floor after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., broke the news of a possible vote Thursday morning. In a particularly partisan moment in the upper chamber, the NDAA was able to pass committee on a near-unanimous vote earlier this year, Wicker noted.

“At a time when we were unable to muster a 60-vote majority to continue our work as a federal government, we were able to pass the National Defense Authorization Act by a 26-1 vote,” Wicker said.

Reps., D-Ariz. They were finally able to introduce the legislative package after Senator Ruben Gallego relinquished control over the measure.

Gallego had called for a vote on the amendment that would prevent Ashli ​​Babbitt, who was killed during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, from receiving a military funeral. The Air Force made an offer of military funeral honors for Babbitt in August.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) speaks to reporters after the weekly Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 7, 2025. (Allison Robber/AP Photo)

Senators crafted a massive batch of more than a dozen partisan amendments and nearly 50 additions to the legislative package before signing the bill into law. Parliament passed its own version last month.

Among the amendments that failed was an amendment by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) that would have blocked money for the refurbishment of a Boeing 747 that President Donald Trump accepted from the government of Qatar earlier this year.

Another, from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., would block Trump and governors across the country from signing off on sending the National Guard from one state to another if a governor or mayor rejects the move.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. A successful amendment by would have repealed the 2002 Iraq Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which gave then-President George W. Bush the authority to use the U.S. military as he deemed “necessary and appropriate” after September 11, 2001.

It would also repeal a similar decision taken in 1991 during the Gulf War. The Parliament version of the bill included the cancellation of both powers.

Dozens of DEMOCRATS REBELLING NEED TO PASS DEFENSE BILL ON GOP PRIORITIES

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., threatened Thursday to block a vote on the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., had vowed to block the package Thursday afternoon to “provide a hearing to investigate this gross abuse of our military” in response to Trump sending the National Guard to Chicago and other cities across the country.

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But he backed off his threat after Wicker promised a hearing on the matter “in the coming weeks.”

“I look forward to asking the Trump administration tough questions about its unconstitutional National Guard deployments to American cities despite objections from state and local officials,” he said in a statement.