Congress Creates Fast-Track Rule to Block Military Deployments on US Soil; Allocates $900 Million for Local Police in FY 2026

The No Troops in Our Streets Act of 2025 is a two-part legislative move: first, it gives Congress a much faster way to terminate the use of US military personnel for domestic law enforcement; and second, it pours a significant amount of new federal funding into local police departments. Essentially, this bill is about drawing a clearer line between the military and civilian life while boosting the resources of local agencies.

The core of the bill establishes a new, expedited process for Congress to pass a “joint resolution of disapproval.” This resolution can immediately shut down any existing exception to the Posse Comitatus Act (which generally keeps the military out of domestic policing) or end activations of military forces under Section 12406 of Title 10, which allows for the use of federal troops in specific circumstances. This is Congress saying, “If the military is deployed domestically, we can pull the plug, and fast.”

The Congressional Eject Button

For regular folks, the biggest takeaway here is increased accountability. When we see news about federal troops being deployed domestically—whether for civil unrest, border control, or other emergencies—this bill creates a mechanism for Congress to intervene quickly. The legislative process for this disapproval resolution is designed to be streamlined: committees get only a few days to act before the resolution is automatically brought to the floor, and debate is severely limited (just two hours in the House). This means Congress can force a vote on ending a deployment without the usual procedural roadblocks that can bury a bill for months.

However, there’s a catch in the fine print. The power to even introduce this fast-track resolution is limited to party leadership—the Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, etc. This concentrates the power to initiate the “eject button” in the hands of a few top officials, meaning if party leaders don't want the resolution to move, it likely won't even see the light of day. While the process is fast once initiated, the decision to start it rests with a very small group, which is a classic Washington power play.

The $900 Million Local Law Enforcement Boost

The second major section of the bill focuses on funding state and local law enforcement for Fiscal Year 2026, dropping a total of $900 million in new appropriations. This is the part that directly affects local budgets and services.

• $600 million is allocated to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program. This is the main federal funding stream for local law enforcement, covering everything from equipment purchases to training and technology.
• $150 million goes toward a new community violence intervention and prevention initiative, aiming to tackle violence before it requires a police response—a crucial investment for communities dealing with rising crime rates.
• $100 million is specifically earmarked for Community-Oriented Policing Hiring Grants (COPS), helping cities and towns hire or rehire additional career law enforcement officers. For a city struggling to maintain staffing levels, this funding could mean the difference between a fully-staffed patrol division and one stretched thin.
• $50 million is set aside for emergency law enforcement assistance, with the President able to direct up to $10 million per emergency (like a major natural disaster or terrorist event), provided the chief executive of the affected state and locality approves.

Crucially, the bill explicitly prohibits any of this new $900 million from being used to pay for the assignment of Federal law enforcement personnel to states and localities. This reinforces the bill's overall theme: keep the military and federal agents out of local policing, and instead, empower local police forces with their own resources. For local police departments, this is a significant and direct financial benefit for the next fiscal year.