A final version of next year's U.S. National defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes keeping the size of U.S. Forces Korea at its current level, passed the U.S. House of Representatives on the 10th (local time).
According to the Associated Press, the House-Senate compromise bill on the NDAA for fiscal year 2026 (October 2025–September 2026) passed the House floor vote with 312 in favor and 112 against. The bill will take effect after it passes the Senate and is signed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The NDAA that passed the House that day states that funds authorized by the bill cannot be used to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Korea to below the current level of 28,500. A clause restricting the use of NDAA funds for cuts to U.S. Forces Korea has reappeared for the first time in five years.
Earlier, during the first Trump administration, the U.S. Congress included provisions in the NDAA for fiscal years 2019–2021 that restricted the use of funds for reducing U.S. Forces Korea, in order to check unilateral cuts by the administration. This clause disappeared under the former Joe Biden administration and has now been revived.
In addition, the defense budget for fiscal year 2026 in the NDAA agreed by the House and Senate is a total of $901 billion (about 1.3 quadrillion won), up $8 billion from the budget requested by the Trump administration.
In addition, the NDAA specified that funds cannot be used to complete the transfer of wartime operational control of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command from the U.S. command authority to the Korean command authority in a manner that departs from the plan agreed upon by both sides.