Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. PATRONIS. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, on behalf of myself and Representative Moore of Alabama, I encourage all my colleagues to vote in strong support of my amendment, which eliminates the general ban on purchasing conventionally powered vehicles and repeals the statutory preference for EVs and hybrid nontactical vehicles within the Department of War.

I am grateful to Chairman Rogers for his leadership on this act. I also thank Congressman Moore for supporting this good amendment.

How in the world can the most powerful military in the whole world live up to that reputation while driving a bunch of weak EVs that require charging? My amendment builds on President Trump's executive order that we must put the mission at the core of what we do forward.

Under the Biden administration, the Air Force previously planned for acquisitions of all light-duty, nontactical vehicles to be electric by 2027, Mr. Chair. Now, what they forgot is in many of the defense facilities in my district, and also across the globe, that they are near saltwater.

We have all seen the horrible fires that occur when saltwater and batteries mix. They are horrific, runaway fires. In the Joe Biden Department of Defense, I can only imagine a scenario where a natural disaster causes critical installations, just like in my district, to be stuck with a large fleet of vehicles both burning and inoperable. Congress cannot allow this to happen to our troops.

Beyond the expense of the sudden increase in electric vehicles, this would bring further excessive spending on chargers. As such, we should repeal this costly, unwise policy. My amendment does just that. It eliminates the ban on purchasing conventionally powered, nontactical vehicles which would start in 2035. It also removes the statutory preference for electric and hybrid nontactical vehicles.

Congress must give the Department of War the proper authorities to protect this great country that we call home. I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment that builds upon both what the President's executive order does and Secretary Hegseth's charge to restore the Department of War to greatness.

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Mr. PATRONIS. Mr. Chair, the good gentleman may be the only mechanic in the Chamber, but I am the one who was a State fire marshal who saw firsthand how our lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles are not ready for prime time.

If you look at what happened when Hurricane Ian devastated south Florida, there were over 25 runaway fires because of EVs that had gotten flooded with saltwater. Heavy metals bridge the batteries and short them out. You can do nothing but park them and watch them burn.

These devices are fantastic technology, but they are not battle- tested for our men and women, especially when they are putting themselves in harm's way. A lot of times, the encroachment of those areas that they may be dealing with is going to be in saltwater venues. Any type of flooding, and EVs do not work.

In the middle of America, they can have them all they want. Along our coastal regions where our military has to count on reliable vehicles, combustion engines are the only things that are battle-tested that can do the job.

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Mr. PATRONIS. Mr. Chair, obviously, my colleagues are not familiar with northwest Florida and what we call the Gulf of America range. This is a place where we train our best and brightest who are defending our country around the globe.

Unfortunately, in order to have access to a range like that, you are going to have installations that are going to be on the Gulf of America as they train. As you have anywhere along the United States, coastal cities are going to exist. They are not going away. Unfortunately, electric and hybrid vehicles and saltwater do not mix.

I understand the point my colleagues want to make about tactical vehicles, but they are not seeing the big picture. These particular vehicles cannot sustain any type of saltwater flooding. They create a thermal runaway. Fortunately, they may not have experience with what a thermal runaway is where they live, but these are catastrophic events that ultimately affect not just that vehicle but everyone around that vehicle. It ties up precious resources babysitting a fire that does not need to exist in the first place if we ensure that these vehicles are never part of the military missions of the United States of America and the Department of War.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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