House appropriators to mark up defense bill June 13

The House Appropriations Committee will meet June 13 to mark up its version of the fiscal year 2026 defense spending bill.

The committee’s defense panel will meet in a classified session on June 10 to do its work on the bill. The White House, meanwhile, has yet to submit a detailed FY-26 budget request but appropriators have said during committee hearings that it might be some time in early June.

Meanwhile, senior GOP appropriators say they are displeased with the Trump administration’s FY-26 "skinny" defense spending request, which names a topline that would not keep pace with inflation if not for its reliance on separate budget reconciliation legislation that would bring the total defense budget to $1 trillion.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) has said he is worried the White House’s use of a one-time reconciliation bill to increase defense spending will mean "creating a cliff out there for somebody, whoever the next president is going to be, and that's a very dangerous thing to do."

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has defended the FY-26 request and the administration’s use of reconciliation, noting that the yet-to-be-passed bill would help increase defense spending by 13%.

“The American people are asking us to be very judicious with their taxpayer resources . . . 13% is a very, very healthy increase and we want to make sure this is going toward capabilities that DOD needs,” he said.