Breaking down the Senate's potential $839 billion defense bill

The appropriation for the Pentagon is one of the largest items in the last remaining spending bills that fund the federal government, and this year it’s coming in at $839 billion.

The Senate’s return after a weeklong break will focus on passing those spending bills so the government doesn’t shut down on Friday, including one that funds defense spending.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the Pentagon spends the most on operations and maintenance of equipment.

“The second biggest expensive thing is people — personnel,” she said.

U.S. servicemembers are set to receive a 3.8% pay increase, alongside the cost of developing and acquiring new weapons, ships, and planes.

“[There’s] procurement, there’s research and development,” MacGuineas said.

The total Pentagon appropriation increased by less than 1% over last year, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

That doesn’t even keep up with inflation. But this appropriations bill isn’t the only thing funding the Department of Defense.

Rashmi Agarwal, a director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said there’s money for the military in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending measure — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“It was passed in July of 2025, but they provided about $156 billion in additional funding for the department,” Agarwal said.

Add that in, Agarwal said, and total Pentagon spending for this year is way up — closer to $1 trillion.

“That’s the largest budget that they’ve had to date,” she said.

Agarwal said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes money for shipbuilding and weapons. Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said there’s also about $25 billion for Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system.

“That was considered a down payment on getting started on this signature effort of the Trump administration,” Harrison said.

Trump is already looking ahead to next year, when he wants to spend $1.5 trillion on the military.