On July 9, 2025, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA; S. 2296), authorizing $878.7 billion for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). On July 15, 2025, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) subsequently approved its version of the NDAA (H.R. 3838), authorizing $848.2 billion for DoD.
While the specific AI provisions in the House and Senate bills vary, they share significant overlap in directives related to AI mission planning for missile defense, AI data center infrastructure and management on DoD installations, cybersecurity and governance frameworks for AI and machine learning (ML), and the use of AI for training, readiness and operational support.
The House and Senate must now work to reconcile their separate versions of the NDAA. On September 2, 2025, the Senate NDAA cleared its first procedural hurdle via an 84-14 vote. The chamber must still vote to open debate on the legislation in the coming days. In the House, the Rules Committee is preparing the chamber's NDAA for floor consideration as soon as next week. Below, please find a collective summary of the AI provisions in the SASC-passed NDAA, as well as the HASC-passed version.
To fund the defense legislation, lawmakers must also pass a separate appropriations bill. On July 18, 2025, the House passed its FY 2026 defense appropriations bill (H.R. 4016) by a vote of 221-209. On July 31, 2025, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 26-3 to advance its FY 2026 defense appropriations bill (S. 2572) to the full Senate. The Senate bill dedicates $851.9 billion to defense programs, a $21.7 billion increase to the President's budget request, while the FY 2026 House bill provides only $831.5 billion, aligning with President Trump's plan to keep the annual defense budget static. A comparison to defense appropriations in past years is provided at the end of this alert.
Summary of NDAA AI Provisions
A number of tech-focused amendments have also been filed, including: