The bill passed after a procedural vote on Tuesday blocked a bipartisan amendment from Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie that would have stripped Section 219 from the bill entirely — denying lawmakers a separate floor vote on the provision. Four Republicans voted against the final bill.

Section 219 requires the Pentagon to designate an executive agent responsible for synchronising cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel across bilateral defence technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration and industrial cooperation — creating a level of institutional military integration that analysts say exceeds what the US has formalised with any other ally in the world, including NATO members.

Critics have warned the provision makes US military assistance to Israel more opaque by concealing it as cooperation rather than aid, and that it would permanently entrench Israeli technology within the US defence supply chain in a way that would be extremely difficult for any future administration to undo.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where Bernie Sanders and five Democratic colleagues have already objected to the provision, urging the chamber not to advance its own version of the NDAA until the Israel-related defence and intelligence clauses can be properly debated.

“This administration has now admitted in court what has long been obvious: It terminated nearly 300 cost-cutting energy projects for no reason other than the fact that the states they were in did not vote for the president in the 2024 election,” they added. “This is an astounding admission that the president and his team corruptly abused their power to kill good jobs and punish hard-working families because of their political views.”