DoD plans to spend entire $152 billion from reconciliation bill in one year

The Defense Department plans to spend all of the money available through last year’s reconciliation bill in fiscal 2026, despite the funding being available for several years.

Burning through the entire $152 billion in a single fiscal year — even though Congress allocated the funding to be spent over the next five years — is a departure from the Trump administration’s own earlier plans.

The White House previously said it would spend approximately $113.3 billion in fiscal 2026, while putting the remaining reconciliation money toward various programs over the following several years.

But in a long-delayed report recently delivered to lawmakers, the Defense Department said it is “working to accelerate execution into fiscal 2026 if that can be done without sacrificing effectiveness.”

The Pentagon’s spending plan includes $1 billion through the Defense Production Act, bringing total mandatory funding to $153.3 billion.

After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law in July, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees issued guidance outlining congressional intent for how the funding should be used and asked the Defense Department to submit a detailed spending plan by August. 

The Defense Department missed the deadline, but later provided the defense committees with a classified spending plan covering roughly $90 billion of the $150 billion package. Democrats later pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to  explain the department’s decision to classify its reconciliation spending plan.

“The Department has offered no explanation for why the spend plan was classified, even though some items … such as barracks improvements or personnel benefit increases, are not sensitive. It strains credulity that all the items in the $90 billion classified spend plan are sensitive enough to warrant complete classification,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), along with nine other Democrats, said in a Feb. 3 letter. “Even at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, defense appropriation spend plans were not fully classified.”

“This decision also comes amid broader transparency concerns … In addition, there are indications that reconciliation funds may have been used for purposes not contemplated by law, including paying troops during the recent lapse in appropriations and providing a one-time bonus payment,” they added.

And while the unclassified spending plan provides some transparency and a high-level overview of where the money is going, key spending details remain unclear.

The department outlined in greater detail how it plans to spend approximately $7.47 billion on quality of life initiatives. 

The largest portion of the funding — nearly $2.9 billion — will go toward supplementing the basic allowance for housing. The spending plan says the department “will use $2.6 billion to provide a one-time basic allowance for housing supplement,” while the remaining $258 million will be used to “address future requirements associated with enhancing the BAH rate calculation.” In December, President Donald Trump announced a “Warrior Dividend” bonus for service members, suggesting it would be funded through tariff revenue. The Defense Department ultimately used reconciliation money intended to supplement the basic allowance for housing to issue those $1,776 bonus payments.

The plan also allocates $1 billion to modernize unaccompanied military housing across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force; $230.5 million for the Marine Corps’ Barracks 2030 initiative and $119 million for base operations support; $100 million for childcare fee assistance and $62 million to modernize staffing at military childcare centers.

About $50 million will be used for bonuses and incentive pay intended to retain personnel in critical skills such as cyber, intelligence and special operations.

“The [United States Marine Corps] requires immediate funding to retain highly skilled enlisted personnel in critical skills such as cybersecurity, intelligence, and special operations. These individuals are essential to operational success, and their retention is crucial for mission effectiveness and overall readiness. The requested funding will be used to process 2,899 pending Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) packages, ensuring that critical talent is retained in key skill areas,” the plan reads.

The plan also includes funding for 120 additional Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarships, as well as $100 million for tuition assistance and $10 million for military spouse professional licensure programs. 

Golden Dome

While the Defense Department provided a broad overview of how it plans to spend Congress’s $24.4 billion downpayment on the Trump administration’s missile defense initiative, most information is “available at a higher classification,” according to the spending plan.

The largest portion of the funding — approximately $7.2 billion — will go toward “development, procurement, and integration of space-based sensors,” although that investment is still “pending approval.” About $5.6 billion is slated for “development, procurement, and integration of space-based and boost phase interceptor capabilities.” Another $2.55 billion will support broader military missile defense capabilities.

About $2 billion will go toward upgrading ground-based missile defense radars; $800 million toward accelerating development of next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile defense systems; and $408 million toward modernizing Army missile test range infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region.

Additional funding includes $2 billion for air-moving target indicator military satellites, $500 million to improve national security space launch infrastructure, $250 million for directed energy capabilities development, and $530 million to design and construct a missile range safety ship.

Low-cost weapons

The department plans to spend $15.4 billion to “enhance its efforts to innovate, experiment, prototype, and rapidly scale cutting-edge science and technology programs into low-cost munitions for the warfighter.”

DoD proposes $1.4 billion to grow the small unmanned aerial system industrial base, although more information is only available at a higher classification level. About $400 million will be spent on advanced command-and-control tools for combatant commands and military departments.

The Pentagon will invest $2 billion to scale commercial technologies through the Defense Innovation Unit — more information is only available at a higher classification. The plan also includes funding for additional DIU “on-ramp” hubs.

Approximately $500 million is slated for military 5G and 6G development and $250 million for the department’s artificial intelligence ecosystem.

“Funded efforts include continued support for successful existing pilot programs, the rollout of a department-wide GenAi.mil platform in compliance with Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War priorities, and initiation of new agentic AI pilots targeting critical warfighting and business processes,” the plan read.

Another $250 million will be spent on Cyber Command AI initiatives — that information is also classified; and $250 million will go toward accelerating quantum computing benchmarking efforts.

The plan also allocates $20 million to accelerate hiring of civilian workforce to support the Office of Strategic Capital’s programs.

“This is focused on recruiting experts in investments and finance from private investment firms to bring in knowledge and skills that don’t currently reside within the [Defense Department],” the plan reads.

Copyright © 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.