The House Armed Services Committee chairman released on Tuesday a proposed $1.15 trillion fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that emphasizes bolstering America’s defense industry.

The so-called “chairman’s mark” from Rep. Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., would authorize almost $1.15 trillion for the base-budget part of President Donald Trump’s record $1.5 trillion defense proposal for fiscal 2027. But fully $350 billion of Trump’s request would come via a separate reconciliation measure that Congress may have trouble enacting in this session.

A GOP aide on the House Armed Services Committee told reporters Tuesday the chairman’s mark did not attempt to “pad” its base budget measure with funding for priorities that the president offloaded onto the reconciliation request. Many of the administration’s top priorities — from drones to missile defense to munitions — are contained in the reconciliation request.

“We did not secret squirrel money away,” the aide said.

Rogers is “relatively confident that we’ll be able to achieve reconciliation this year,” the aide said. “But in the event we’re not, we will have those discussions with our appropriators and with the administration later in the year about how we cover those priority items, and munitions is at the very top of that list.”

Record spending proposal

The committee plans to mark up the fiscal 2027 NDAA on June 4. The Senate Armed Services Committee has yet to announce its markup schedule for the companion bill.

The House chairman’s draft bill and report language contain proposed statutory provisions and committee directives with bipartisan appeal, the aide said — while a host of contentious matters must wait to be sorted out at next week’s committee markup.

The measure includes $1.1 trillion for the Defense Department, including $28.4 billion for military construction, family housing and base closure programs.

On top of that, the bill would include nearly $42 billion for nuclear weapons programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Some $11 billion would go toward defense programs authorized by other House panels but counted toward the national defense authorization total, the aide said.

Rogers has called the theme of the fiscal 2027 NDAA “rebuilding the arsenal of democracy,” the staffer noted.

The defense industry “has atrophied pretty significantly over the last 30 years,” the aide said. “We no longer have the capacity to build the capability for the warfighter at scale and speed.”

Among the problems: China controls 90 percent of the global critical minerals production on which U.S. weapons builders must rely, the staffer said.

Moreover, the aide said, the Pentagon does not have enough “exquisite” munitions such as antimissile interceptors and it takes “an unacceptably long amount of time” to build replacements.

Industrial base concerns

To address those and other issues, the chairman’s mark proposes a number of new provisions.

For example, the mark would require the Pentagon to choose a second company to manufacture solid rocket motors. The report expressed concern about a recent Pentagon decision to bankroll an incumbent manufacturer of these motors to the detriment of competitors.

The measure would authorize a number of multiyear procurements, which provide contractors with stability and enable them to buy in bulk to save money. Programs that the mark would authorize to use multiyear buys in fiscal 2027 include F-35 and F-15EX fighter jets, destroyers, naval oilers, sub tender ships and amphibious vessels.

Part of the concern with the defense industry is its aging force of skilled workers.

The measure would institute workforce development initiatives in the critical minerals industry, including scholarships and partnerships with schools.

By requiring a streamlining of some accounting regulations, the committee hopes to attract more small businesses to work with the Defense Department.

Besides diversifying and bolstering supply chains, the panel wants to strengthen their security by setting up Pentagon systems to surveil markets for risks and to require the department to formally assess potentially dangerous capital investments by China and other adversaries.

On other acquisition-related matters, the bill would require the Pentagon to set a preference for U.S. companies in contracting for services.

The measure also contains so-called “right to repair” language that the staffer said would enable the military services to repair their equipment rapidly without relying too much on contractors — a provision the staffer said balances that imperative with protection of intellectual property rights.

The mark includes a noteworthy proposed addition to the shipbuilding account: Authorization to spend $500 million toward a second destroyer in fiscal 2027, after the administration, to the consternation of some hawks, requested only one destroyer instead of the usual pair.

The bill also would authorize the full $1 billion for the Trump-class battleship program.