Military

Sweeping Trump Agenda Bill with $157 Billion Defense Boost, Food Aid Cuts Approved by Congress

Statue of George Washington in the Rotunda at the Capitol in Washington

A $157 billion defense funding boost that the Pentagon has been counting on to compensate for an otherwise flat budget has been approved by Congress and is on its way to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.

The House voted 218-214 almost entirely along party lines on Thursday afternoon to pass the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sweeping legislation to enact Trump's agenda on everything from immigration to taxes. The House passage, which followed the Senate's narrow approval on Tuesday, closed a week of Congress sprinting to get the bill to Trump's desk by his self-imposed deadline of July 4.

In addition to bulking up defense funding, which includes a few billion dollars for service member quality-of-life improvements, the bill will slash social safety net programs, including food assistance that military families and veterans rely on.

"The One Big, Beautiful Bill makes a historic and long overdue investment of $150 billion to achieve President Trump's Peace Through Strength agenda and restore American deterrence," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said in a statement after the bill's passage. "We can't afford to wait any longer to begin rebuilding our military capacity, launching the future of American defense, and supercharging American manufacturing."

The Pentagon has been banking on passage of the bill to bring its budget next year to a record nearly $1 trillion. Without passage of the bill, the department has been planning a roughly $848 billion budget for fiscal 2026, essentially the same amount of funding it has this year.

The Pentagon's budget gimmickry irked some GOP defense hawks in Congress who had intended for the $150 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill to supplement a regular $1 trillion defense budget. But the House, at least, has so far followed the Pentagon plan in its regular appropriations process ^[2].

The Pentagon has said the funding in the Trump agenda bill could be used to make up for holes ^[3] caused by pulling some existing funding for operations on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill approved Thursday includes about $1 billion for military operations on the border, compared to about $5 billion in border funding being planned for at the Pentagon.

The Army ^[4] has already moved about $1 billion ^[5] from facilities maintenance, including for dilapidated barracks, to border operations.

The One Big Beautiful Bill has $1 billion for barracks restoration -- but that money is intended to be divvied up between the Army, Air Force ^[6], Navy ^[7] and Space Force ^[8].

The bill separately provides about $350 million specifically for the Marine Corps ^[9]' housing improvement initiative known as Barracks 2030.

The bill also provides temporary authorization for more widespread barracks privatization, an idea that has gained steam in recent years ^[10] as the services have struggled with maintenance backlogs.

The bill's biggest pots of defense funding are $29 billion for shipbuilding, $25 billion for munitions and $25 billion for the Golden Dome, Trump's still hazy proposal ^[11] for a space-based missile shield over the United States.

The barracks funding in the bill is part of an overall $9 billion set aside for military quality-of-life issues, including $2 billion for military health care programs, $2.9 billion to help cover Basic Allowance for Housing ^[12] costs, $50 million for special pay ^[13] and bonuses, $100 million for child care fee assistance, and $10 million for military spouse ^[14] professional licensure fee assistance.

Meanwhile, the bill makes deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps.

Specifically, the bill will cut federal funding and force states to make up the difference. While the burden on states is not quite as heavy in the final bill ^[15] as originally proposed, state government officials and anti-hunger advocates have still warned that the burden-sharing will overwhelm state budgets and force them to make cuts that will affect everyone on the program, including veterans and military families.

SNAP is a lifeline for many military families, which face food insecurity at higher rates than the civilian population. About 1.2 million veterans are also estimated to be on SNAP.

The bill also revives SNAP's work requirements for veterans, reversing a change made in a bipartisan deal in 2023 that exempted all veterans from work requirements regardless of their disability status. The reversal has elicited fierce pushback from some veterans groups.

"Cutting SNAP exemptions for veterans is an unacceptable betrayal," Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said in a statement last week. The bill's cuts "ignore the unique challenges veterans face, from service-connected disabilities to navigating the transition to civilian life. SNAP isn't a handout; it's a vital lifeline that keeps food on the table for those who serve."

Republicans have defended reviving work requirements for veterans by pointing to continued exemptions for people with disabilities and framing the mandate as an "opportunity."

"The One Big Beautiful Bill restores work, volunteer and training opportunities for veterans on SNAP -- rolling back a Biden-era carveout that denied them the dignity of work," House Agriculture Committee Republicans posted on social media Friday. "Veterans who qualify for exemptions remain fully protected."

Republicans pushed the bill through Congress using a process known as reconciliation, which allowed the bill to pass without any Democratic support. But wrangling enough GOP support to pass was also a battle.

In the Senate, Republicans added several provisions meant to spare Alaska from harsh benefits cuts in order to win support ^[16] from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Still, Vice President JD Vance needed to break a tie in order for the bill to pass the upper chamber because three other Republicans -- Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- opposed it.

In the House, members of the hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus spent Wednesday threatening to tank the bill over what they viewed as insufficient spending cuts, while some more moderate Republicans balked at Medicaid cuts. But ultimately, they voted for the bill Thursday without any changes.

Just two House Republicans, conservative Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and moderate Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, voted against the bill.

© Copyright 2025 Military.com. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request here ^[18].

Pentagon Again Expanding Military Border Zones, This Time in Arizona

Army National Guard soldiers conduct foot patrols along the southern border

Hundreds more miles of federal land along the U.S. southern border in Arizona is set to be transferred to the Department of Defense, further expanding newly created military zones -- and the footprint of the military's role in immigration enforcement.

The newest military zone in Arizona -- the fourth border zone created by the Trump administration -- will encompass 140 miles of Department of Interior land near the Barry M. Goldwater range and will be transferred to the military as an extension of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma ^[1], Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Wednesday.

The administration has created the zones as a way to tap the military to enforce its border security and immigrant deportation agenda, and they allow additional court charges to be filed against those who trespass. Most recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month said an additional 250 miles, this time along the Rio Grande River, would be handed ^[2] to the Department of the Air Force ^[3] as an extension of Joint Base San Antonio ^[4], Military.com previously reported.

Once those two new federal leases are transferred, it will mean that the Army ^[6], Air Force and Marine Corps ^[7] will all have an ownership stake in enforcing security at the U.S. southern border.

Two other military zones have already been created at the border, one in New Mexico that is an extension of the Army ^[8]'s Fort Huachuca ^[9], Arizona, and another in West Texas that is considered a part of Fort Bliss ^[10]. Last month, U.S. attorneys announced some of the first convictions ^[11] of migrants who crossed into the zones.

Meanwhile, officials are offering differing numbers on just how many active-duty troops are involved in the expanding border mission.

At the press briefing, Parnell told reporters that about 8,500 military personnel are currently assigned to the active-duty Joint Task Force Southern Border mission. The figure is a drop from earlier figures of around 10,000. One defense official said the new figure doesn't reflect any units being removed but rather the normal ebb and flow of personnel for a long-standing mission.

Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesman for the border mission, told Military.com on Wednesday that the total number of Joint Task Force Southern Border personnel was hovering around 7,600.

Another defense official said the roughly 1,000-person difference between the two figures was because the 7,600 number was troops directly on the border while the larger 8,500 number Parnell offered included various personnel supporting or on loan to the Department of Homeland Security and the border mission.

In total, upward of 600 miles of the U.S. southern border with Mexico has either been placed, or is soon to be placed, under the Department of Defense's ownership.

Following President Donald Trump's earliest executive orders this year, the military has expanded its integration with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection, a move that continues to alarm defense and legal experts, Military.com has previously reported ^[12].

"It seems to be a growing trend," Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, D.C., told Military.com on Wednesday. "There are obviously limits to how much of the land along the border they can militarize easily -- private land will be more challenging -- but I would expect them to keep pushing ahead with this tactic."

In addition to the thousands of military personnel now patrolling the border alongside the Border Patrol, the Pentagon says that the efforts to build the first ICE detention center on a military installation are making progress.

The first defense official who spoke with Military.com said that the ground at Fort Bliss, located near El Paso, Texas, has already been prepared for a "temporary, soft-sided holding facility" that will be paid for by the Army but run by contractors, not military personnel.

When asked whether there were plans to expand efforts for holding facilities to other bases, the official noted that the Pentagon is "a planning organization" but that they had nothing to announce at the present time.

The result, according to Parnell, is that there have been more than 3,500 patrols, including 150 with the Mexican military, since March 20.

Parnell boasted that between June 28 and June 30 there were zero "get-aways" -- people crossing the border who either flee from patrols back into Mexico or into the U.S.

"We have made incredible progress and will continue to work toward achieving 100% operational control of the border," Parnell told reporters.

However, the claims come as the Pentagon heads into a budget season that leaves a lot of questions about how it will pay for the expanded operations.

Last week, officials said that more than $5 billion is being budgeted in the upcoming year for operations at the U.S. southern border.

But defense officials, who briefed the press on annual budget plans, said they are betting on a Trump agenda bill in Congress to backfill any money pulled from current military funds to help pay for not only the thousands of troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border but also those sent to Los Angeles after immigration raid protests in the city.

Meanwhile, the military services have been raiding other parts of their budgets -- namely those aimed at upkeeping and building new barracks -- to make ends meet.

The Pentagon has already moved to gut $1 billion from the Army's facilities budget, which the service was planning to use on living quarters for junior troops that have suffered from dilapidated conditions for years.

Air Defense Missiles Among Weaponry US Is Withholding from Ukraine, AP Sources Say

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the Pentagon

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause ^[1] to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.

The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries ^[2] were confirmed by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the matter. They both requested anonymity to discuss what is are being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details.

The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.

Elbridge Colby, Defense Department undersecretary for policy, said the decision to halt some weapons comes as Pentagon officials have aimed to provide Trump “with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.”

“At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces’ readiness for administration defense priorities,” Colby added in a statement.

Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, blasted the move that came just days after Russians forces launched one of the biggest air assaults on Ukraine ^[3] since it launched the war more than three years ago.

“U.S. made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the centerpiece of Ukraine’s defenses against Russian strikes. They work. They save lives every day," the Ohio Democrat said. "But there are no parallel defensive alternatives for Ukraine if the U.S. stops supplying these vital munitions."

One of the officials said other weaponry being held up includes the AIM-7 Sparrow — a medium-range radar homing air-to-air missile — as well as shorter-range Stinger missiles and AT-4 grenade launchers.

The Pentagon review that determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged comes just over a week after Trump helped forge a ceasefire between Israel and Iran ^[4] to end their 12-day conflict.

The U.S. has provided provided air defense support to Israel, Qatar and other Mideast neighbors. It's unclear if that conflict had any impact on the Trump's move in Ukraine.

The U.S. deployed air defenses systems as it knocked down an Iranian ballistic missile assault ^[5] last month launched on the Al-Udeid Air Base ^[6] in Qatar. The retaliatory strike from Tehran against the U.S. military installation came days after Trump ordered a barrage of strikes ^[7] on three key Iranian nuclear sites.

Army Secretary Fires Entire Corps of Civilian Advisers from Communities Across US

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll speaks to soldiers

Army ^[1] Secretary Dan Driscoll has ousted his entire slate of civilian advisers in a sweeping move aimed at clearing space for voices from the tech world, as the service doubles down on its push to modernize with a Silicon Valley-style lens.

On Friday, Driscoll notified the 115 members of the Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army program, or CASA, an all-volunteer group that serves as the secretary's eyes and ears in communities across the country, that their roles were being terminated.

"Moving forward, the Civilian Aide Program will focus on leveraging civilian expertise in strategic communications, advanced technology, innovation and digital transformation to advise the Army as we build a force capable of dominating the future fight," Driscoll wrote in a letter to all civilian aides Friday.

The move marks a significant break for the century-old program, whose unpaid members have traditionally served to facilitate connections with local businesses, university campuses and state lawmakers, and help boost recruiting ^[3] efforts and community outreach.

"One of the big losses is I think the decision is short-sighted," said John Phillips, who was an Atlanta-based aide who worked on recruiting initiatives. "The key things lost are community and industry. We're the conduit to get the Army connected to the local community."

It's unclear how Driscoll plans to reinvent the program -- or whether it will remain as large as it has grown in recent years. The shake-up comes as the Army becomes increasingly singular in its focus on emerging technology, drone warfare and deepening ties with Silicon Valley.

Just last month, in a virtually unprecedented move, the service granted direct commissions at the rank of lieutenant colonel ^[4] to a group of wealthy tech executives from firms including Palantir, Meta and OpenAI.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Army planners are quietly trimming down, or outright dismantling, programs seen as peripheral to the service's high-tech future.

While some Pentagon officials and lawmakers have applauded the push toward more rapid innovation, some are quietly worried the Army is becoming too narrowly focused, potentially at the expense of its broader mission, and that recent major decisions about the force are being made without consulting outside of a very cloistered group of officials at the top of the Army hierarchy.

The civilian aide program has long been viewed as uneven, with aides contributing at widely varying levels. Some aides were deeply engaged in local outreach or policy advising, but others were seen as largely symbolic or duplicative, according to officials familiar with the program.

In practice, civilian aides were the Army's means of networking in cities and small towns, often helping coordinate events between the service and external stakeholders, from meetings with local officials and school administrators to attending ribbon cuttings, recruiting fairs and dinners with mayors.

They've also served, in many cases, to figuratively fly the Army's flag -- or represent the service -- in areas far from major military installations.

"It was an honor," said Edward Salo, a history professor at Arkansas State University and former CASA, who worked as a liaison between the National Guard ^[5], his university and the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. "It felt good to be able to contribute to help the Army in any way possible."

"I hope that they do redo the program to meet the new Army's needs and not let it sit on the back burner," Salo added. "It's an important tool for the secretary and the Army."

Sidebar

Magazine menu