House Speaker Mike Johnson praised the final version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill text released Sunday, saying it further promotes President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda while eliminating a provision on IVF and undoing “woke” policies from the Biden administration.
The 3,086 page bill that could be voted on as soon as this week and typically passes Congress on bipartisan lines has a budget request that adds $8 billion to the $892.6 billion initially requested in Trump’s budget.
“This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps advance President Trump and Republicans’ Peace Through Strength Agenda by codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos,” Johnson said in a statement.
“This legislation includes important House-passed provisions to ensure our military forces remain the most lethal in the world and can deter any adversary. It roots out Biden-era wokeism in our military and restores merit-based promotions and admissions to service academies, prohibits contracts with partisan firms, counters antisemitism, and halts harmful, unnecessary programs like CRT, DEI, and climate initiatives,” the Speaker added.
NDAA Highlights
Johnson also noted the bill’s guardrails aimed to protect U.S. long-term investments, economic interests and sensitive data from adversaries like China.
Other highlights of the NDAA include the following:
- Providing enlisted servicemembers with a 4% pay raise.
- Strengthens U.S.-Israel military operations and cooperative missile defense programs.
- Expanding counter-drone defenses and new technologies.
- Advances the “Golden Dome” and enhances America’s nuclear deterrent and new nuclear power technologies.
- Fully supports the deployment of National Guard and active-duty troops at the southwest border to intercept illegal immigrants and drugs.
- Enhances U.S. defense initiatives in the Indo-Pacific to bolster Taiwan’s defense and support Indo-Pacific allies.
- Revitalizes American shipbuilding and expands the Maritime Industrial Base.
- Strengthens the defense industrial base and supply chains.
"The FY26 NDAA delivers on President Trump’s promise of peace through strength and ensures America can deter our adversaries and protect our homeland,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said in a statement. “This legislation builds on the wins from the Working Families Tax Cut, revitalizing our defense industrial base, improving our servicemembers’ quality of life, and building out critical warfighting capabilities.
“We’re also reforming the Pentagon’s broken, bureaucratic acquisition process so that our troops can quickly get the tools they need to deter our enemies, instead of waiting up to a decade while our adversaries field new technologies within months.”
IVF Provision Removal
Some Democrats and an array of reproductive organizations warned prior to the final version of the drafted bill text that the removal of a provision mandating health care coverage for assisted reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), for all active-duty service members was not going to make the cut.
They raised alarm that Johnson was targeting TRICARE, the insurance plan for service members and their families outside of military facilities that covers IVF for everyone regardless of health situations.
If it remains out of the version that passes Congress, it would prevent the expansion of IVF access to all servicemembers due to current insurance plans through TRICARE only covering fertility services for service members whose infertility was caused by “a serious or severe illness or injury while on active duty.”
Johnson made no mention of the IVF provision removal in his most recent statement. Military.com reached out to Johnson’s office for comment on that issue.
'Shame On Them'
Concerns expressed in Washington by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) ultimately came to fruition, at least as the bill is currently drawn.
“Republicans repeatedly make promises to the public that they support IVF, but their extreme actions tell a different story from their lip service during election years,” Duckworth said in a statement shared with Military.com. “Time and again when given the chance to make IVF available and affordable, they cave to far-right extremists who see families and their doctors as murderers. And for the second year in a row, our servicemembers are paying the price of that extremism.”
Duckworth focused her ire on Johnson and Trump, the latter for his various statements assuring to provide IVF to Americans at reduced or no cost. Trump referred to himself as the “father of IVF” while on the 2024 campaign trail.
“[Trump’s] proved he’s a deadbeat dad by not only failing to make IVF free for anyone but standing by as Speaker Johnson undermined one of his key campaign promises and stripped coverage from servicemembers behind closed doors that both the House and Senate approved. Shame on them,” Duckworth said.
She added that Johnson’s actions are “deeply hypocritical” considering that military heroes do not receive the same care and access that congressional members receive.
Duckworth and Jacobs earlier this year passed the TRICARE provisions on bipartisan votes in the Senate and House. Now, that’s in jeopardy.
“Speaker Johnson just stole the opportunity for service members to build their families through IVF, putting his personal beliefs over their dreams,” Jacobs said in a statement on Sunday. “It’s an unbelievably selfish and callous move against people who’ve served and sacrificed so much for us, especially when he and his own staff have access to health care plans that provide IVF coverage.
“I’m also disappointed that President Trump failed to do anything to change Speaker Johnson’s position on this issue despite his alleged love for our military and supposed support for IVF. But the fight isn’t over.”
When asked by Military.com whether she would still vote for a defense policy package that omits such IVF-related care, a spokesperson for Jacobs said the congresswoman is still reviewing the entire bill in full and that it remains undetermined whether she will support it.
“She did vote against it in committee and on the House Floor this year,” the spokesperson said. “I can’t speak for the caucus but the NDAA typically passes with bipartisan support.”
Other Legislative Avenues For IVF
National fertility and reproductive organizations lamented the final NDAA text, saying that if the bill forges on without aid for IVF then it puts Republicans at odds with the president’s own publicly stated remarks on the issue.
Sean Tipton, chief advocacy and policy officer of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said in a statement shared with Military.com that the final text implies ‘unilateral” decision making by Johnson himself.
“Like any American, Speaker Johnson is fully entitled to hold personal views on IVF and to make his own family building decisions accordingly,” Tipton said. “What he is not entitled to do is override the will of Congress and strip away a provision that was negotiated during committee markups and ultimately approved by both the House and Senate on the floor—particularly at the eleventh hour of NDAA negotiations and without transparency.
“Actions taken in this manner—out of sight, without debate, and contrary to broad bipartisan agreement—are precisely why public trust in today’s Congressional leadership has eroded.”
Should the provision be left out, Tipton suggested a standalone floor vote on the IVF for Military Families Act so that every congressional member’s vote could be on record for the American people to judge.
Julie Eshelman, founder, CEO and president of the Building Military Families Network, said in a statement to Military.com that Johnson’s message is “clear” and that military families’ goals of having a family by way of IVF are not as valued.
“Our military families already sacrifice so much for this country and denying them the same level of healthcare access that the Speaker himself has, is disrespectful to the brave men and women who are willing to sacrifice their lives and fertility in service to our country,” Eshelman said. “While we are deeply disappointed the IVF provision was excluded from the final version of the NDAA, we don't think Congress should delay passing it any further.”
Echoing Tipton, Eshelman said Congress can “still pass meaningful legislation to improve access to care and all family building options for military and veteran families” by voting for bills like the IVF for Military Families Act and the Veterans Infertility Treatment Act of 2025.
Danielle Melfi, CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, said in a statement provided to Military.com that the removal of IVF coverage “is a dishonor to our servicemembers who make extraordinary sacrifices for our freedoms.”
“There was bipartisan support for this coverage, and its exclusion fails to advance President Trump’s call to expand IVF access,” Melfi said. “Military families have waited far too long to access the full range of medical care needed to build their families. RESOLVE will not stop fighting until every American has access to the care they need to build the family they dream of.”
