Rep. Sewell Votes No on House Republicans’ Partisan Defense Appropriations Bill

Washington D.C. - Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) voted against House Republicans' partisan Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations bill. The bill directs the Defense Department to make nearly $8 billion in cuts, undermining military readiness and hurting our troops. It also weakens democracy at home and abroad and restricts access to reproductive health care for women service members.

"Just weeks after Trump and Congressional Republicans stripped health care away from millions of Americans and added trillions to the nation's debt in order to give tax breaks to billionaires, now House Republicans are cutting services for our military personnel and weakening our military readiness at home and abroad," said Rep. Sewell. "Our service members and their families deserve better! I voted NO on the Republicans FY26 Defense Appropriations bill, and I will continue to oppose any bill that prioritizes billionaires over our men and women in uniform."

In May, Rep. Sewell led a letter with 117 of her colleagues requesting that $25 million be provided for the Department of Defense Pancreatic Cancer Research Program. President Trump and DOGE gutted essential cancer research funding from the Continuing Resolution earlier this year. While Rep. Sewell was successful in funding the program at $15 million in the House FY26 bill, this falls short of the $25 million request which is desperately needed to advance lifesaving pancreatic cancer research.

The FY2026 Defense Appropriations Bill:

• Undermines Military Readiness and Hurts our Troops: The bill directs the Department of Defense to determine $7.75 billion in cuts. If made uniformly, it would reduce all non-intelligence activities by approximately 1 percent, which would force cuts of almost $2 billion for troop pay, $2 billion for troop readiness, $409 million for health programs, and over $2 billion for the procurement and modernization of weapons systems

• Weakens Democracy at Home and Abroad: The bill weakens Ukraine and empowers Russia by failing to include $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, despite broad support for helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion. It also eliminates the Department of Defense's ability to counter disinformation campaigns, allowing extremist views to flourish and threatening our national security.

• Restricts Access to Reproductive Health Care: The bill prevents service personnel from traveling to seek reproductive health care, even when they are stationed in states where it is unavailable. The bill makes it harder for service members and their families to access critical health care and puts women-and readiness-at risk.