House passes partisan military construction and veterans care bill to ramp up approps season
Republicans advance Trump-era priorities in first FY26 funding bill, drawing sharp pushback from Democrats.
The House on Wednesday afternoon passed a Republican-drafted proposal to fund military construction, veterans’ health care and housing for servicemembers in fiscal year 2026 that once again marked a dramatic departure from the broad bipartisan consensus that once defined it.
Once considered one of the most noncontroversial annual appropriations measures, MilCon-VA has become a platform for partisan policy fights, especially over abortion access, transgender health care and DEI programs at VA facilities and military installations. That shift was reflected in the near-party-line vote, with all but two Democrats—Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.) and Jared Golden (Maine)—voting no.
The final tally was 218-206.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) accused Republicans of using the bill to advance the Trump agenda at the expense of veterans.
“They are trying to rip away resources from the Veterans Administration, and at the same time, thousands of veterans have been fired unceremoniously from their employment with the federal government. It’s a complete and total disgrace,” Jeffries told me ahead of the vote. “The appropriations bill should be used to stand up for the veterans of this country. Yet, Republicans have chosen to continue their assault and that is why you will see strong Democratic opposition.”
The bill provides $147.5 billion in discretionary funding, including more than $14 billion for military construction projects across the armed services and reserve components:
$2.1B for the Army, $4.1B for the Navy and Marine Corps, $3.2B for the Air Force, and $4.0B for Defense-Wide agencies
$1.3B for the National Guard and Reserve
$540M for unfunded priority projects identified by the military services for FY25 and FY26
It also includes nearly $1.2 billion for family housing, plus additional funds for child development centers ($75M), barracks planning ($75M), Department of Defense lab modernization ($105M), and demolition projects ($75M). The bill prohibits the closure or realignment of Guantánamo Bay and blocks new base construction—at home or abroad—without prior congressional approval.
House Republicans say the measure fulfills Congress’s duty to support servicemembers and veterans while curbing wasteful spending. They point to provisions that bolster U.S. posture in the Indo-Pacific, support veteran mental health and invest in President Donald Trump’s Bridging Rental Assistance for Veteran Empowerment (BRAVE) program to combat homelessness.
But the bill also cements key elements of the GOP’s culture war agenda. It reinforces Trump-era executive orders targeting DEI initiatives, restricts gender-affirming care at the VA, expands Hyde-like abortion restrictions and blocks the VA from reporting certain veterans to the FBI’s background check system—a change Republicans frame as protecting Second Amendment rights.
Authored by Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), the bill has become a vehicle for what Democratic leaders call a broader realignment of military and veterans policy toward Trump-era ideology.
Democrats formally whipped against the bill, warning that it underfunds military construction by more than $900 million, undermines readiness, and diverts billions from the VA to private providers—accelerating the push to privatize veterans’ health care, which they say would mean longer wait times, higher costs and lower quality of care.
They also objected to the bill’s lack of dedicated funding to address climate threats at military installations and its inclusion of riders that restrict abortion access and weaken federal gun safety enforcement.
During committee markup, Republicans rejected every Democratic amendment—including proposals to reverse the closure of a VA housing program shuttered under Trump, protect veterans from tariff-related price hikes, block mass firings at the VA, assess how the GOP reconciliation bill would affect veterans and establish cleanup standards for PFAS contamination at Defense Department sites.
MilCon-VA is one of 12 annual appropriations bills Congress must pass to keep the government funded. It also sets the tone for how both parties approach national security, the care’ care and the infrastructure that supports military readiness. Because major portions of VA benefits and health care are funded through advance appropriations, the bill also has long-term implications for the federal budget.
House GOP leaders are expected to schedule floor votes next on the FY26 funding bills for Agriculture–FDA and Defense, which advanced through subcommittee earlier this month. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet released or voted on any of its twelve bills.