{"id":13927,"date":"2026-07-21T18:39:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/at-europes-largest-airshow-us-lawmakers-sound-alarm-over-pentagon-budget-gridlock\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:39:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:39:03","slug":"at-europes-largest-airshow-us-lawmakers-sound-alarm-over-pentagon-budget-gridlock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/at-europes-largest-airshow-us-lawmakers-sound-alarm-over-pentagon-budget-gridlock\/","title":{"rendered":"At Europe\u2019s largest airshow, US lawmakers sound alarm over Pentagon-budget gridlock"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FARNBOROUGH, UK<\/strong>\u2014U.S. lawmakers sounded alarms about the fate of this year\u2019s Pentagon budget while attending Europe\u2019s largest airshow and said the Trump administration\u2019s top defense priorities, including the Golden Dome missile defense program, are in peril.<\/p>\n

A bipartisian congressional delegation at the Farnborough International Airshow told reporters on Monday that the gridlock surrounding this year\u2019s National Defense Authorization Act, an Iran war supplemental, and additional funding measures likely portends acontinuing resolution: a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open at the current year\u2019s spending levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not going to get an NDAA bill done anytime soon,\u201d Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. \u201cAnybody, no offense to anybody, anybody who thinks we’re going to do an NDAA in the midterm needs to back off the crank. It’s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy later said, \u201cWe’ll get the NDAA done\u201d and \u201cI hope we\u2019ll have a CR to continue the budget, but after that, I really don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political infighting about the defense budget comes as President Donald Trump has pushed European countries to provide for their own defense and to buy American weapons. Given the gridlock in Washington, the administration has proposed to make heavy, partisan use of an unusual budget maneuver called reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a concern that if you start doing defense and reconciliation, it can create a bad habit, and I get all of that,\u201d Kennedy said on the sidelines of Farnborough. \u201cBut the military needs money, and the only way to get it to them in this environment is through reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some $350 billion of the administration\u2019s initial $1.5 trillion defense budget request relies on reconciliation, which allows funding legislation to be passed by a simple majority. The sum includes major defense priorities such as munitions, shipbuilding, and autonomous warfare efforts. Congress has since whittled the reconciliation amount to $60 billion, mostly to support the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d go a little bit heavier on the defense money, but that’s just me. I’ll take it if that’s the best we can do,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Democrats disagree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it does set a dangerous precedent, and I think the Appropriations Committee, both Democrats and Republicans, have been pretty clear with the department about that, about concern that if this is a priority, it should go in the base budget,\u201d Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a sideline gaggle with reporters. \u201cThere isn\u2019t going to be a third reconciliation package, so anything that’s in there is not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden Dome<\/strong><\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers are also casting doubt on using reconciliation to pass one of the Trump administration\u2019s biggest defense priorities: the sprawling Golden Dome missile defense program.<\/p>\n

A mere\u00a0$400 million of the $17.5 billion the Pentagon is seeking for Golden Dome comes from the baseline budget, and the remainder from reconciliation funds. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., told reporters at Farnborough the secretive missile defense investment \u201cis needed\u201d but is concerned with the administration\u2019s partisan funding maneuvers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m worried it’s in reconciliation, because I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not,\u201d Fischer said.<\/p>\n

Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said there\u2019s other avenues outside of reconciliation to get the Golden Dome funding the admin wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is one of the priority items in reconciliation [that] they will find a way to work into a funding bill,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cIf not this one, then the base budget or something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy, like Fischer, said the missile defense system is needed but added that there\u2019s other more pressing priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s going to be expensive,\u201d Kennedy said of Golden Dome. \u201cWill we get it done in this Congress? I wouldn’t bet my house on it. And if I were betting your house on it, it’d be a maybe.\u201d\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n