The House is preparing to take up the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week after Democrats filed roughly 450 proposed amendments to the fiscal 2026 bill, many aimed at curbing policies of the Trump administration and countering Republican priorities.
The House Rules Committee plans to review the bill Monday afternoon and set parameters for debate, clearing the way for a floor vote later in the week. While Democratic lawmakers acknowledged that most of the progressive amendments are unlikely to pass, they have used the traditionally bipartisan defense package to spotlight opposition to the White House and Republican leadership.
Several members filed measures that directly challenge recent administration actions. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, submitted amendments to strike language in the NDAA that prohibits use of defense funds for diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Reps. Luz Rivas, D-Calif., and Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, offered a similar amendment to block a Pentagon ban on DEI efforts.
Other Democratic amendments focus on immigration and the use of military resources for migrant processing and detention. Crockett introduced language to halt construction of migrant detention facilities on military installations. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., proposed barring Defense Department funds from supporting migrant processing and detention operations. The Pentagon announced last month plans for what it described as the country’s largest federal migrant detention center at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., filed two amendments addressing Trump-era immigration practices. One would prohibit funding for family separation. The other would bar funds from being used to transfer noncitizens to foreign prisons, except under treaties and extradition laws; supporters say that proposal would effectively block deportations to El Salvador.
A subset of amendments targets U.S. support for Israel. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., introduced measures that would restrict certain military and security assistance. Tlaib’s amendment would ban U.S. arms sales to countries whose governments include officials with outstanding International Criminal Court arrest warrants; the ICC issued warrants in late 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials. Omar proposed repealing Israel’s emergency access to a U.S.-managed weapons stockpile located in the country.
The NDAA is enacted annually to set national security and defense policy for the U.S. government. This year’s defense package has seen more than 1,000 amendments filed in total, including the roughly 450 attributed to House Democrats. The influx of partisan and symbolic proposals marks a departure from the bill’s usual bipartisan trajectory, though lawmakers on both sides have at times used the NDAA as a vehicle for broader policy and political debates.
House Republican leaders have signaled they will prioritize advancing a text aligned with GOP defense and border-security priorities, and the Rules Committee’s decisions this week are expected to shape which amendments receive debate and votes. Sponsors of the Democratic measures have framed their proposals as efforts to constrain what they describe as contentious administration policies and to force public debate on issues ranging from Pentagon diversity programs to immigration enforcement and Israel policy.
The timeline set by the Rules Committee will determine whether any of the Democratic amendments are adopted or remain symbolic statements. Lawmakers on the floor are expected to clash over the scope of debate and the scope of permissible amendments before the House casts votes on the NDAA later in the week.