H.R. 4016: Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026

H.R. 4016 funds the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2026, but it is also a policy bill wrapped inside a spending bill. The biggest budget signal is $8.75 billion in explicit reductions: $3 billion tied to what the bill calls H.R. 1 efficiencies, $1 billion from bulk fuel rates, $3.75 billion tied to cooperation with the Department of Government Efficiency, and another $1 billion from management efficiencies.

At the same time, the bill gives the Pentagon room to move money if priorities change. The Defense Secretary could transfer up to $6 billion with Office of Management and Budget approval for higher-priority, unforeseen military needs, though Congress must be notified and a baseline reprogramming report has to be filed before most transfers can move.

The bill also tries to stop end-of-year spending surges. No more than 20% of covered appropriations could be obligated in the final two months of the fiscal year, a rule aimed at slowing the usual rush to spend before money expires.

H.R. 4016 also steers money toward selected programs. It provides $500 million for Israeli cooperative missile defense programs, $90 million for the National Defense Stockpile, $79 million for Civil Air Patrol, $80 million for a Platform Supply Vessel Pilot Program, and $5 million for Fisher House construction and furnishing.

The sharpest disputes are in what the bill blocks. It bars funding for DEI offices, implementation of certain executive orders, mask mandates and vaccine requirements affecting service members and others in the Defense Department, transfers of Guantanamo detainees into the United States, certain gender-affirming medical care, and support for several named entities including UNRWA, EcoHealth Alliance, NewsGuard Technologies, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.