Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLZEY. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of this bill and I join Chairman Calvert and Ranking Member McCollum in saluting the hard work of the Defense Subcommittee staff, and of course, Chairman Cole. I thank my colleagues on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for working with this body.

As of today, the Biden-era CRs, numbers, and policies will come to an end, and we will pass a bill that addresses the needs of now and the future for our adversaries around the world.

This fiscal year `26 bill invests in the Navy's sixth-generation fighter, an essential high-tech platform designed to succeed across the globe, projecting power from highly mobile airfields--the United States Navy's aircraft carriers.

It also accelerates the Army's investment in the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, a platform essential for the Army to meet the fight in the long distances between islands in the Pacific.

The Navy Reserve will finally get four more KC-130Js to provide aerial refueling, spare engines, and contested logistics in the Pacific Ocean.

Some of the most important provisions in this bill help the Pentagon fix many of its broken and antiquated processes. It gives Secretary Feinberg the ability to accelerate and find, test, and buy the tools that warfighters want and need, both hardware and software.

Remember, it was industrial innovations that won World War II, not a fledgling Pentagon.

Today, patriotic companies across the country are putting their own skin in the game to help our country deter, if possible, and defeat, if necessary, our 21st century adversaries, and we must help them succeed.

Vote for this bill.

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