MaddowBlog-GOP advances push to rename the Defense Department (and spend a lot of taxpayer money)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

At least for now, Republican lawmakers are taking the unserious “Department of War” effort quite seriously.

Formally changing the legal name of the Department of Defense to the “Department of War” is a plainly unserious idea.

But it’s one congressional Republicans are suddenly taking very seriously.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-12T20:22:45.051Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republican-push-rename-department-war-defense-taxpayer-money

Late last year, the public learned that the Trump administration’s drive to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War would be, among other things, very expensive. In fact, an NBC News report said the initiative “could cost as much as $2 billion” in taxpayer money.....

Last week, the House Armed Services Committee took up the idea, which Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the panel’s top Democrat, mocked as “one of the dumbest things that has been done by this administration.” Soon after, the GOP majority nevertheless voted to rename the department, adding the idea to a must-pass spending bill.

This week, the Senate Armed Services Committee did the same thing. Politico reported:

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted this week to formally change the Pentagon’s name to the Department of War, moving a significant step closer to solidifying President Donald Trump’s rebrand of the Defense Department as permanent.

The move came during the committee’s closed-door deliberations over its defense policy bill, according to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who announced the name change in explaining his vote against the legislation.

“It’s a juvenile move that sadly describes the reality of a president who has abandoned meaningful diplomacy in favor of starting doubtful wars in multiple locations and threatening even more,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement.....

What’s more, it’s tempting to think Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Republican officials would put aside trivial pursuits like this during the ongoing war with Iran, which, more than 100 days in, hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.

But GOP members of Congress, at the White House’s behest, are embracing the scheme anyway.

That said, it is not a done deal, at least not yet. At issue is a legislative package called the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense policy and authorizes military spending. Every year, some bad ideas work their way into the bill, and every year, when the House and Senate get together to reconcile the competing versions of the NDAA, many of those bad ideas get filtered out. That may yet happen to the whole “Department of War” gambit.

Hopefully this stupid idea will die in the House. There is no way that this plan would get 60 votes in the Senate

[rso]

1. DOD

Even if the House passes it, they would need 60 votes in the Senate which will not happen.