National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026

The Defense Department must now offer bottled water, filters, or a hookup to city water. It covers homes below a base where private wells once passed federal limits for two “forever chemicals” left by base work.

Service members stationed away from their families draw this monthly payment. The rate had been $250 and is now $300.

The monthly food allowance for enlisted members is set each October from the Agriculture Department's liberal food plan. The new rule also blocks the rate from dropping below the year before.

Twenty named cancers now count as line-of-duty injuries for federal death and disability payments to public safety officers. Families may file for deaths or disabilities dating back to January 1, 2020.

No 2026 defense money may pay for a hiring freeze or a reduction in force at a public shipyard. It also may not pay to delay filling a vacant job there without cause.

Service members may take parental leave any time in the two years after a birth, adoption, or placement. The first general or flag officer in their chain of command must approve it.

The law bars diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, staff, trainings, and employee affinity groups across the Defense Department. Equal-employment offices and disability accommodation offices keep running.

The Election Assistance Commission must add penetration testing when it certifies voting hardware and software. The requirement starts within 180 days.

Any service member, including National Guard troops, who supports civilian law enforcement must display the name of their armed force. It applies whenever troops back up police.

The Selective Service will register men using data it gathers from other federal agencies, including Social Security numbers. Men get written notice and a way to fix a wrong record, starting one year after the law took effect.

State, local, tribal, and jail police may disable, take over, or seize drones that threaten crowds, key infrastructure, or prisons. They must first pass federal training, and they must report each takedown within 48 hours.

Using a drone during another felony doubles the maximum sentence or adds five years, whichever is less. Flying contraband to prison inmates adds five years, and a repeat military airspace violation now carries up to five years.

Operating a vessel in a grossly negligent way that badly hurts someone is now a class E felony. It can also carry a civil fine of up to $35,000.

No defense money may move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States or to certain other countries. The ban on closing the site runs another year as well.

Congress authorized $161.7 billion for weapons buying, above the $152.8 billion the Pentagon asked for. The extra money covers items such as missiles, ships, and aircraft.

Contractors used to hand over cost and pricing data on deals above $2 million. That floor rises to $10 million, and other dollar limits that trigger reviews rise as well.

The Treasury may block certain United States investments in Chinese technology firms, or require investors to file notice first. Violations draw civil fines, and the whole program ends after seven years.

The ban on buying and using fluorinated firefighting foam slips two years. The same section tightens the limit to any detectable amount and exempts ships, submarines, and some tactical vehicles.

The Defense Department no longer has to favor electric or hybrid vehicles when buying non-tactical ones. A related duty to cut fleet fuel use changed from “shall” to “may.”

Land set aside for Army ranges in Alaska, McGregor Range in New Mexico, and Fort Irwin in California stays reserved 25 more years. The Fort Irwin area also grows from 110,000 to 117,710 acres.

Within seven days of using military aircraft for removal flights, the Pentagon must tell Congress the aircraft type, passenger count, destination, and cost. Every 90 days it must also report how many people are held at military sites.

Intelligence agencies have 180 days to run a declassification review of records on the origins of COVID-19. That includes work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and gain-of-function research.

The law repeals the standing inspector general review of diversity and inclusion, and of supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang activity in the ranks. No replacement review is set up.

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina gains federal recognition and access to federal Indian programs. Services begin in the third fiscal year after enactment, and land may be taken into trust in four counties.

Congress repealed both resolutions that authorized force against Iraq, one from 1991 and one from 2002. The repeal sits in the bill's catch-all division, not in the defense titles.

Up to two large airports may redo home sound insulation the government already paid for. The tests are narrow: a local program running since 1985, a metro area above 4 million people, and 22 million yearly boardings.

The Army, Navy, and Air Force may each make a one-time transfer of surplus pump-action shotguns to the Civilian Marksmanship Program, which sells to the public. Short-barreled shotguns are excluded, and Congress gets a report 60 days beforehand.