Proposed DoD Renaming Bill Funds Name Change by Cutting Military Travel Budgets

The proposed Department of Defense’s Cost of ‘War’ Act of 2025 (or DoD COW Act, if you like acronyms) lays out a surprisingly specific plan to fund the administrative costs of renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War. It’s not about finding new money; it’s about moving existing money.

The Cost of a Name Change

This bill focuses entirely on how the government will pay for the logistical nightmare of changing the name on everything: physical signs, websites, letterhead, and anything else the U.S. government owns. The Secretary of Defense has a clear mandate for funding these “covered costs” (SEC. 2). First, they must use money already budgeted for the Department of Defense’s general travel expenses. If that doesn't cover the full tab, the Secretary must then dip into the travel budgets of the individual military departments—that’s the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Essentially, they are funding a symbolic change by taking money directly from the budget lines used for official travel.

Where the Money is Coming From

Think about what military travel budgets cover: training exercises that require personnel to move, official visits for coordination and diplomacy, or critical travel for maintenance and supply chain management. By mandating that the costs of changing the name—which could be substantial, given the size of the DoD—must be pulled from these operational travel funds, the bill creates a direct trade-off. Every dollar spent on new signs is a dollar that can’t be spent on a necessary training trip or a coordination meeting between bases. While the bill provides a clear funding mechanism (SEC. 2), it forces the military branches to pay for a purely administrative task by sacrificing operational flexibility.

The Real-World Trade-Offs

For the average person, this bill doesn’t directly change your daily life, but it speaks volumes about resource priorities. Imagine your company decided to rebrand and, instead of using the marketing budget, they forced the entire sales team to pay for the new signs and stationery out of their travel allowance. Suddenly, those essential client visits or important conferences are off the table. Similarly, if the cost of renaming the DoD is high, the military branches could see their essential travel curtailed, potentially impacting readiness, coordination, or necessary logistical operations. The Secretary of Defense is required to report the total amount spent on this renaming effort to Congress within one year of the law’s enactment, which at least provides a hard number on the cost of this symbolic endeavor.