An eye-popping new report reveals that private military contractors are getting rich off Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act with little accountability. The budget allocates $156 billion annually to the Pentagon and other military expenditures through 2029, in addition to expenditures in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Researchers say “a substantial portion” of these funds go directly to a select few private military contractors — the same firms that have spent hundreds of millions seeking favor with top lawmakers.

According to a new joint report from Brown University’s Costs of War project and the Stimson Center, the open-ended reconciliation bill “effectively [makes] it a slush fund” for the defense industry, “incentiviz[ing] future lawmakers to skirt the regular budget process, which is more deliberative and transparent” than the closed-door reconciliation process.