House passes Pentagon funding and limits on stock trades in a last dash before recess
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- The House passed the $1.1 trillion National Defense Authorization Act by 216-212, with six Democrats joining Republicans; the bill heads to a Senate where Democrats blocked a similar version last week demanding concessions on Trump's Iran war.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S.-Iran conflict has already cost taxpayers $37.5 billion, with at least four service members killed in recent days bringing the U.S. death toll to 18 and nearly 500 injured.
- House Republicans advanced a $95 billion budget reconciliation framework by 216-214, earmarking more than $70 billion for the Iran war, $12 billion in farmer assistance, and funding to implement Trump's SAVE America Act election overhaul bill.
- Speaker Mike Johnson used the reconciliation procedure to bypass the Senate's 60-vote threshold, allowing the $95 billion package to theoretically pass on a party-line vote despite GOP fiscal hardliners' frustration that no offsets were included.
- The Stop Insider Trading Act passed the House 232-198, banning lawmakers from acquiring new individual stocks while in office but permitting retention of existing holdings, dividend reinvestment, and disclosure-based sales.
- Nonpartisan good government groups opposed the stock ban, writing to Congress that the bill doesn't prohibit ownership, prevent profiting off trades, or cover other asset classes; all but 13 Democrats voted against it, citing loopholes and an attached unrelated voter ID provision.
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to prioritize extending government funding past the September 30 deadline, while the House on Tuesday passed its own stopgap extension through December that lacks several White House funding requests.
Why it matters: The Iran war is now actively distorting both chambers' legislative math: Democrats are withholding NDAA support until the conflict is reined in, while Republicans are routing $70+ billion in war funding through reconciliation to avoid a Democratic filibuster — meaning the same war is simultaneously blocking one Pentagon bill and enabling another.
