Two Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee warned Tuesday that a third reconciliation package to supplement the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion defense budget is “really not an option,” raising concerns about the future of key Pentagon priorities such as munitions production and the department’s ambitious Golden Dome missile shield.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the defense subcommittee chairman, and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the appropriations committee chairwoman, publicly acknowledged that Congress is unlikely to approve the $350 billion in reconciliation funding the Pentagon is counting on to support its massive $1.5 trillion budget request.
“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 request.
“I agree with that assessment,” Collins added.
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The exchange came after Collins questioned Air Force Secretary Troy Meink about the administration’s decision to shift funding for a number of major Air Force modernization efforts into an uncertain reconciliation proposal.
Collins pointed to the F-35’s power and thermal management upgrade as one example. Of the $154 million requested for the program, only $10 million appears in the base budget request, with the remainder expected to come through reconciliation.
Meink acknowledged the department’s plans depend on receiving the full amount requested to execute the program.
“The total request is required. If we do not get the total request, then prioritization will have to be done within the budget we do get, and that will be a continual dialog with the Congress going forward,” Meink said.
Collins said the department is taking a “terrible risk” when relying on a third reconciliation bill for the bulk of the money rather than seeking funding through the annual defense appropriations bill.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, said he does not believe a third reconciliation package will ever materialize.
“The request places critical resources, multi-year munitions procurements, spare parts for the F-35 program, key missile defense space programs into a reconciliation package that I doubt will ever be enacted,” Coons said.
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While appropriators don’t control the process, which is driven by party leadership, lawmakers from both parties have increasingly questioned whether Congress will be able to pass another reconciliation package, particularly as attention shifts toward the 2026 midterm elections that could shift the balance of power in Congress.
Last year, Republicans used reconciliation to boost defense spending by $150 billion. This year, the White House wanted Republicans to use the same strategy to pass a significant portion of the proposed defense funding.
“This administration has successfully shifted that paradigm by including a much-needed increase to defense spending in a reconciliation bill passed with only Republican votes – avoiding the traditional spending ratchet. This strategy of decoupling funding for Republican priorities from Democrat waste and use of executive fiscal tools has proven to be a success, and we continue to deploy it in this year’s budget,” the White House budget document states.
Republicans are currently in the midst of advancing a second reconciliation bill which would fund government agencies responsible for immigration enforcement through the end of Trump’s term.
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) asked whether a supplemental funding request would be necessary to ensure the military has sufficient funding if Congress is unable to pass another reconciliation package.
Meink said it is “vital” the Air Force gets the full budget request but declined to discuss a supplemental, saying that DoD is working with the Office of Management and Budget on potential options.
“With respect to supplemental, that will come out of the OMB in the White House, and the [Department of Defense] is working with OMB on options, but I can’t speak to supplemental,” Meink said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), House Armed Services Committee chairman, told reporters Tuesday he “doesn’t agree” with his colleagues, saying that a defense reconciliation bill “will have to happen.”
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