Special to WorldTribune, November 12, 2026 Real World News
Geostrategy-Direct, November 10, 2026
The Democrat Party’s securing of majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate creates new legislative and oversight challenges for President Donald Trump’s “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda.
President Donald Trump speaks with officials and staff in the Oval Office during the announcement of the Golden Dome missile defense system on May 20, 2025. / Joyce N. Boghosian / White House
The current $1.15 trillion defense authorization bill has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate over Iran war issues.
If it does not pass before the new Congress is seated in January, new programs such as the Golden Dome missile and drone defense that is slated to get $397 million under the bill could be in jeopardy, analysts say.
Golden Dome is in the early stages. In addition to the $397 million, the administration is seeking another $17.1 billion through reconciliation funding outside the formal congressional budget process.
Less clear is whether Democrats will cut needed funding for strategic forces modernization that has garnered some bipartisan support in the past but is opposed by left-liberal members of Congress who could be in the ascendancy after election gains by socialists.
The current bill contains $26.2 billion for new nuclear missiles, bombers and submarines.
“Many congressional Democrats for years harbored a political aversion to missile defenses on policy grounds, favoring in the past greater arms control agreements and viewing defenses as strategically destabilizing,” security correspondent Bill Gertz wrote for The Washington Times on Nov. 4.
Trump appears set to use his veto power to prevent major undermining of key programs from the coming Democrat Congress. As Democrats swept to victory on Nov. 3, he posted a photo on Truth Social of a red hat with “VETO.”
Trump’s veto power alone, however, is not enough to counteract Congress’ power of the purse over defense and security issues.
Richard Fisher, a China military expert and Geostrategy-Direct Contributing Editor, said there are two administration programs that are “existential and generational” for American security.
- The Golden Dome defense is a necessary response to the threat of the growing nuclear arsenals of China and Russia and is the best leverage for convincing Moscow and Beijing to join nuclear arms talks, he said.
- “And second, Trump’s commitment to space superiority is the main way to deny the same to China, which will use its control of the Moon-Mars-Solar System high ground to dominate warfare on Earth for centuries,” he said.
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