According to a report by The Washington Post on June 11, in order to promote the Trump administration’s proposal to rename the Department of Defense as the “War Department”, certain provisions were added to a “must-pass” bill.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate military committees have included this clause in their respective versions of the National Defense Authorization Act. This defense policy bill proposes to authorize military expenditures amounting to $1.15 trillion.
Over the past week, both the House and Senate military committees have completed the preliminary reviews of their respective bills. In the past, such bills could generally gain consensus between both parties. However, this time the Democratic Party’s support for the bill has significantly declined. Currently, neither the House nor the Senate has passed their respective bills through a full chamber vote. The versions from both chambers need to be coordinated and unified first, and it is expected that the final vote will take place later this year.
Nevertheless, the endorsement from the two major military committees controlled by the Republican Party means that another crucial step has been taken towards implementing the idea of renaming the Department of Defense as a War Department through legislation.
Currently, the Pentagon has replaced signage, email signatures, and social media identities with new designs that align with the new name. In official documents, “War Department” is used only as a secondary title. Complete legal renaming still requires congressional approval.
"Supporting the name 'Republic of War' Council Members stated that this title better reflects the core mission of their organization."
Democratic lawmakers counter that this renaming is merely a superficial effort to save money.
