Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, prepares for a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Top Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee expressed doubt Tuesday that a $350 billion bill proposed by the Trump administration to reach a record $1.5 trillion defense budget will ever be passed by Congress.
Sens. Susan Collins, of Maine, the chairwoman of the committee, and Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, the chairman of the defense subcommittee, said the likelihood of enacting the additional funds through the reconciliation process was slim to none.
“I think it’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill,” McConnell said during a hearing on the Air Force’s budget. “So, it’s really not an option.”
Collins concurred, saying, “I agree with that assessment.”
Republicans used the reconciliation process, which allows them to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, to push through a $150 billion increase to the defense budget in the One Big Beautiful Bill last year.
They are now advancing a second reconciliation bill, which would fund immigration enforcement through the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
A third such bill appears improbable, according to senators.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, said Tuesday that he did not believe a reconciliation package “will ever be enacted.”
The Pentagon factored in the reconciliation bill when it made its $1.5 trillion budget request to Congress, proposing that $1.15 trillion be funded through the regular appropriations process and the remainder through reconciliation.
Republicans and Democrats have criticized the approach for depriving the military of steady and consistent investment and sending mixed signals to the defense industrial base.
Republicans in the House, however, are supportive of a reconciliation bill, and leaders have held talks on it. Rep. Mike Rogers, of Alabama, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday that the legislation “will have to happen.”
That conviction does not appear to be shared in the Senate.
Republican appropriators there have repeatedly questioned why they are being asked to fund key pieces of Trump’s defense agenda, such as the Golden Dome missile defense program and multiyear procurement contracts for critical munitions, through a one-time infusion of cash.
McConnell described the budget plan Tuesday as a “recipe for major disruptions” in the “very possible event that party-line reconciliation fails.”
Collins also expressed her frustration, telling Air Force officials that too many programs and priorities were left to chance. The Air Force’s $267.7 billion budget request includes $16 billion in reconciliation funding for 53 F-35 fighter jets as well as missiles and other programs.
“It is taking a terrible risk and creates instability when you’re counting on a third reconciliation bill for the bulk of the money rather than doing base funding through the defense appropriations bill,” she said.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators that the total budget request is required for the service to meet its needs but said the Air Force will work with Congress if the additional funds do not come through.
“If we do not get the total request, then prioritization will have to be done within the budget we do get,” he said.
