National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I rise to speak about an amendment that I have submitted to restore ``Buy American'' standards that support our workers and our national defense. My amendment presents an opportunity to work across party lines to strengthen our national security and to support the hard-working men and women in Wisconsin and across the country.

In fact, President Trump supports exactly what my amendment seeks to achieve. In addition, the Parliamentarians have confirmed that my amendment is germane postcloture. Given that the President agrees with me and the amendment is germane, I am calling on the Republican leadership to schedule an up-or-down vote on my amendment so that Senators have a chance to show their support for the workers who help keep America secure.

Let me explain what my amendment would do. The National Defense Authorization Act would eliminate a number of important ``Buy American'' laws for certain critical defense components for Navy ships and other defense programs.

My amendment, entitled the Supporting America's Defense Workers Act, would prevent the elimination of these critical ``Buy American'' protections, which give preference to American companies for government contracts funded with taxpayer dollars. It is a commonsense ``Buy American, Hire American'' policy that supports our domestic industrial base, our workers, and our national and economic security.

Current law requires that certain critical components like valves, air circuit breakers, machine tools, anchor chains, propellers, passenger buses, chemical weapons antidotes, and photovoltaic devices be supplied by American companies or certain qualified companies located in closely allied countries, such as Canada.

Section 863 of the Defense bill would enact a harmful sunset provision on these current requirements, eliminating them entirely at the end of fiscal year 2018 and consequently opening up taxpayer-funded defense contracts to unfairly subsidized foreign competition and placing American jobs at risk.

Opening these procurements up to foreign sources would have the additional effect of undercutting American steel and iron producers because foreign manufacturers of these components do not use U.S.- sourced raw materials. Section 863 would weaken these sectors of the U.S. defense industrial base and jeopardize the stability of companies located in States across this country and the manufacturers of those components. This would, in turn, harm our military's ability to rely on secure and stable sources of critical defense components in an increasingly dynamic global security environment. If domestic sources for critical defense components exit the market, our military could be forced into relying on countries that don't share our interests, including strategic adversaries like China or Russia, for parts and supplies.

I want to emphasize that my amendment does not add any new requirements or preferences to defense acquisitions. Rather, it maintains the existing requirements that have worked for years to create a secure supply of critical parts for our Nation's defense.

Again, to be clear, my amendment does not force the Department of Defense or the individual services to do anything that they are not already doing. Indeed, DOD and the services have complied with these requirements for years without complaint and without injury, and it is important to note that these domestic content requirements can be waived. They can be waived for cost; they can be waived for schedule or noncompetitive reasons. In other words, the government retains flexibility under these laws.

Strengthening our defense industrial base should be a bipartisan issue. In fact, as I mentioned earlier,
President Trump has said that he agrees with me. He registered his opposition to section 863 in his Statement of Administration Policy, which states: ``The Administration strongly objects to Section 863.''

The Trump administration goes on to say:

The existing procurement requirements act as a key guarantor of strategic supply chain security. They protect DOD's ability to reliably source goods such as chemical weapons antidotes and components for naval vessels, among others.

Eroding ``Buy American'' requirements also runs counter to two Presidential initiatives--President Trump's Executive order directing the Pentagon to strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities and his ``Buy American and Hire American'' Executive order to better enforce current domestic content laws.

I believe we must take steps to ensure that American products are prioritized when American tax dollars are being spent. Domestic preferences help our manufacturing sector and ensure that critical products meet our high standards. This is particularly important when we are talking about defense products used to ensure that our servicemembers are safe and effective.

In sum, voting for my amendment means voting not only for the creation of well-paying American jobs but also for ensuring that the items used by our men and women in the military are of the highest quality and will continue to be available.

This amendment is supported by the American Shipbuilding Suppliers Association and the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

A strong defense industrial base means a strong and secure America.
My amendment has the bipartisan support of President Trump, and I believe it deserves a vote and the support of all of my colleagues in the Senate.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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