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, spread across four provisions: $3 billion tied to what the bill calls H.R. 1 efficiencies, $1 billion from favorable bulk fuel rates, $3.75 billion from cooperation with the Department of Government Efficiency, and another $1 billion from management improvements. A separate provision trims $750 million more from working-capital fund cash balances.

The bill also gives the Pentagon room to move money when priorities change. The Defense Secretary could shift up to $6 billion, with White House budget office approval, for higher-priority unforeseen military needs. Congress has to be notified, and most reprogramming is frozen until the Pentagon files a baseline report within 60 days of enactment.

There is a brake on year-end spending, too. No more than 20% of covered appropriations could be obligated in the final two months of the fiscal year, aimed at the usual September rush to spend money before it expires.

Money also flows to named priorities: $500 million for Israeli cooperative missile defense, $1.5 billion in new readiness funding, $90 million for the National Defense Stockpile, $79 million for the Civil Air Patrol, $80 million for a Platform Supply Vessel Pilot Program, and $5 million for Fisher House construction.

The sharpest disputes are in what the bill blocks. It bars Pentagon money from any office of diversity, equity, or inclusion; from gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy; from enforcing COVID mask and vaccine mandates on service members, civilian staff, and DoD school students; from transferring Guantanamo detainees into the United States; and from supporting several named entities, including UNRWA, EcoHealth Alliance, NewsGuard Technologies, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.