Senate lawmakers to mark up annual defense policy bill next week

The Senate Armed Services Committee will meet in closed session next week to craft its version of the fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill.

The panel’s subcommittee’s, according to the congressional calendar, will begin meeting in closed session on Monday, while the full committee will meet Wednesday.

Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) has said he wants to see the topline for FY-26 increased above the Trump administration’s $848 billion regular appropriations request for the Defense Department, which is the same as what Congress enacted in FY-25.

Lawmakers, however, voted today to pass a separate budget reconciliation bill that would increase defense spending by $113 billion in FY-26, bringing the total national defense topline somewhere around $1 trillion.

But Wicker and other lawmakers have said they believe the FY-26 defense budget should be increased even more.

“What we have in front of us is an inadequate budget request and with precious little detail and no follow-on data about fiscal years 2027, 2028 or 2029,” Wicker said during a June 18 hearing in which he pledged to fight to increase the defense topline.

The House Armed Services Committee has not yet officially announced when it will hold its all-night marathon to mark its version of the bill, though congressional staffers said July 15 is a possibility.