President Donald Trump on Thursday signed annual defense policy legislation into law that aims to force the Pentagon to release footage of military strikes against boats in Latin America and ties his hands as he reconsiders longstanding U.S. military commitments abroad.

A compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act passed the House and Senate over the past week with broad bipartisan support. Trump’s signature — which occurred Thursday evening, according to a White House press pool report — marks the 65th consecutive year the Pentagon policy bill has become law.

Boat strikes: The final bill ratchets up a fight over footage of the administration’s use of the military against suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific by freezing a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until Congress receives the video.

The provision comes as lawmakers fight for the public release of the full recording of an early September strike that killed survivors of an initial attack on an alleged drug vessel. Hegseth has rejected calls to release the unedited video.

But most rank-and-file lawmakers still haven’t seen the footage, which has been shown to certain congressional leaders and members of the House and Senate Armed Services panels.

Troop movements: The newly-signed law also restricts how aggressively Trump’s administration can push to reduce U.S. troop levels abroad.

It restricts the Pentagon from reducing the total number of U.S. troops in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days until the Pentagon and the head of U.S. European Command certify to Congress that doing so is in U.S. interests and provide assessments of the impact. It also similarly restricts the U.S. from vacating the role of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, a NATO military command that’s been held by the U.S. officer leading European Command for decades.

Trump has long charged European allies with freeriding off U.S. military superiority and has pressured NATO members to heighten their defense spending. His administration’s moves to reduce troops in Europe and his attempts to pressure Ukraine to strike a deal with Russia to end the war there are some of the most acute points of disagreement between traditional GOP defense hawks and Trump.

As with Europe, the legislation also aims to shield the U.S. presence in South Korea by restricting the administration from reducing personnel levels there below 28,500 troops.

Ukraine: The bill also authorizes $400 million for Pentagon efforts to arm and equip Ukraine amid the war with Russia.

War powers repeal: The measure also includes a long-sought win for lawmakers who’ve fought to reclaim a portion of Congress’ authority to declare war, repealing the 2002 and 1991 Iraq and Gulf War resolutions.

Senate leaders gave up on trying to pass a government funding package before adjourning for the holidays, punting the issue to the new year — when lawmakers will have just a few weeks left to avoid a partial shutdown on Jan. 30.

Senators huddled on the floor Thursday night as they made an eleventh-hour attempt to find a path forward on bringing up a bundle of five bills. But Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper of Colorado announced they would hold up the package after White House budget director Russ Vought’s decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

One Democratic senator, granted anonymity to disclose private discussions, said the Democratic pair was not the only hurdle on their side of the aisle to finishing the legislation. But they made things more difficult for Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

“I’m disappointed that we will not be moving to our second package of appropriations bills tonight. Republicans were ready to go,” Thune said before the Senate left town. “I want this body to know that I remain as committed as ever to funding the government through the regular order process.”

Leaving the Capitol late Thursday evening, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and Thune are in agreement on advancing funding bills next month.

“We want to get through the process and get the appropriations bills done,” Schumer told reporters. “Our goal is to have full appropriations for the rest of the fiscal 2026 year … by Jan. 30.”

At the same time, Senate passage of this funding package won’t stave off another lapse all on its own. That’s because the legislation is only the product of negotiations in the Senate, and bipartisan deal-trading with House lawmakers won’t start until top Republican appropriators reach a separate agreement on overall bill totals.

Besides cash for the Pentagon, the package under consideration in the Senate would fund the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Labor and Interior, along with the EPA.

For the last five weeks, Senate GOP leaders have been trying to lock in approval from all 100 senators to begin debate on this funding measure. But Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and John Kennedy of Louisiana raised objections.

Those holdouts ultimately consented after Republican leaders agreed to a vote on nixing earmarks in the package and committed to eventually advance Johnson’s bill to ensure some federal workers are paid during government shutdowns.

Republicans have confirmed 97 of President Donald Trump’s picks to serve in his administration — the final bloc of nominees that will get through before the Senate heads home for the year.

The 53-43 vote Thursday night represents the third nominations tranche Republicans have........

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