The INSIDER daily digest -- April 25, 2025

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the proposed reconciliation bill purportedly due out later today that will include billions in extra defense spending, plus coverage of the Navy canceling $300 million worth of information technology contracts it deems unnecessary and more.

Keep an eye out later today for the draft text of the proposed reconciliation bill that will include billions in extra spending for the Defense Department:

GOP begins work on $150B defense package for reconciliation bill

Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services committees working on the defense section of the GOP's upcoming reconciliation bill are set to unveil a $150 billion multiyear spending package that injects money into about a dozen different areas, including shipbuilding, Golden Dome missile defense, aircraft and more.

The Navy is canceling "IT contracts that are ineffective and over-budget" as well as "45 grants and awards funding non-essential activities like studying the 'population consequences of the disturbance of humpback whales in the context of climate change'":

Navy cancels DOGE-selected IT contracts and other awards, claiming $300 million cost savings

The Navy is canceling almost $300 million worth of grants, awards and IT contracts identified as wasteful by the "Department of Government Efficiency," Navy Secretary John Phelan announced via X on Thursday night, marking the first publicly announced DOGE-related cuts within the sea service.

Senior L3Harris executives spoke about the company's quarterly earnings this week:

CEO: L3Harris could have global MW/MT coverage for Golden Dome within Trump's term

L3Harris could provide the U.S. with global missile warning/missile tracking coverage for President Trump's proposed Golden Dome initiative within four years, CEO Chris Kubasik said today, if the Defense Department moves quickly on contracting.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel spoke this week at an Air and Space Forces Association event:

DOD budget reprioritization will be 'good for the Air Force,' two-star general says

While the Air Force submitted its proposed 8% of cuts for the Defense Department to reprioritize, the service's director of force design, integration and wargaming today said that funding shifts would likely benefit the Air Force.

Keep an eye out for an upcoming hypersonic flight test sometime before the end of the calendar year:

Rocket Lab tapped for project to accelerate pace of hypersonic flight testing

Rocket Lab will launch the first full-scale hypersonic flight test under the Pentagon's $1.45 billion program to upgrade test infrastructure, a major move to expand the Defense Department's limited hypersonic testing capacity.