Representative Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, announced on Friday that she voted against House Republicans’ 2026 defense appropriations bill.
The bill, which was passed with a vote of 221-209 on Friday morning, provides the Department of Defense nearly $832 billion in funding—the same amount received by the department in 2025, as requested by the Pentagon.
Sewell’s office cited that the bill directs the Department of Defense to seek to make $7.75 billion in spending cuts. They argued, if made uniformly, the cuts would amount to an approximate one percent reduction in all non-intelligence military activities.
Sewell’s office argued the cuts will amount to spending reductions of $2 billion for troop pay, $2 billion for troop readiness, $409 million for health programs and over $2 billion for “the procurement and modernization of weapons systems.”
“Just weeks after Trump and Congressional Republicans stripped health care away from millions of Americans and added trillions to the nation’s debt in order to give tax breaks to billionaires, now House Republicans are cutting services for our military personnel and weakening our military readiness at home and abroad,” Sewell said.
“Our service members and their families deserve better,” Sewell continued. “I will continue to oppose any bill that prioritizes billionaires over our men and women in uniform.”
Sewell’s office criticized the bill’s failure to include $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. They also pointed to the bill’s provision barring military personnel from receiving travel funding in order to seek reproductive healthcare.
“The bill makes it harder for service members and their families to access critical health care and puts women—and readiness—at risk,” wrote Sewell’s office.
Meanwhile, Republican members of the House Defense Subcommittee have championed the bill’s 3.8 percent increase in basic pay for all military personnel scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, as well as its $1.15 billion program aiming to counter drug-use in the military and its statute to help codify U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs by prohibiting funding for DEI efforts in the military.
U.S. Representative Dale Strong, R-Alabama, also celebrated the bill’s passage, arguing it would “bolster American military strength.”
“This legislation makes essential, strategic investments to defend and protect the American people from growing global threats,” Strong said. “The best deterrence is readiness. As the aggressive postures of Russia, China, and Iran continue to grow, we must prioritize the development of defense capabilities to provide our men and women in uniform with the very best resources and training.”
“This funding bolsters America’s military superiority and invests in missile defense and space programs to support the Golden Dome initiatives – a workforce that is part of the very fabric of North Alabama while remaining laser-focused on our military’s warfighting mission,” he continued.
The appropriations bill allocates $13 billion in support for Trump’s proposed Golden Dome for America project.
Sewell’s office also pointed to a letter led by the representative and signed by 117 colleagues in May, requesting $25 million be provided to the Department of Defense’s Pancreatic Cancer Research Program.
The funding request followed the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency cutting federal cancer research funding through a continuing resolution passed earlier this year.
Sewell’s office said, while the representative’s letter led to the addition of $15 million to the House FY26 budget, the amount falls short of the requested amount which they argued was “desperately needed to advance lifesaving pancreatic cancer research.”
The House’s version of the defense appropriations bill must be reconciled with the U.S. Senate’s in order to be passed. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to release its proposal for defense spending.
