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

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Rogers for the opportunity to visit on this en bloc. I appreciate his leadership in once again guiding the NDAA successfully, on a bipartisan basis, through the House.

While I will support this en bloc set of amendments, I would be remiss if I didn't bring to light an amendment that is included in this en bloc that I believe needs more deliberation. I appreciate the intentions of the sponsor, but I believe we need to carefully consider some of the details.

This amendment nearly duplicates the vast powers of the Defense Production Act while the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are in the midst of a thorough reauthorization, including happily and proactively consulting with our colleagues on the Armed Services Committee and our Members throughout both sides of the Hill.

Note that I said the amendment narrowly duplicates the DPA because there are significant differences that should raise concerns about the text in this amendment.

Over the course of 75 years, Congress has built in crucial safeguards to the Defense Production Act. The amendment does not include these safeguards.

Here are just a few examples: Under the Defense Production Act, the Pentagon is limited in its use of financial assistance to domestic industry as well as certain entities located in our Five Eyes partner countries. Even in those countries, our closest, most reliable allies in the world, the DPA has strong oversight language to prevent offshoring to foreign companies.

This amendment, if enacted into law, would allow the Pentagon to use subsidies and purchase commitments in 190 countries around the globe, including, Mr. Chairman, Venezuela and Cuba. We must carefully evaluate these policy choices at a time when we are working to bring jobs back to the United States and reverse decades of manufacturing decline.

Under the previous administration, President Biden sought to use the DPA for things like making more baby formula and residential heat pumps. The amendment would only ensure such efforts in future administrations. This is just not a likelihood. It is a certainty that it could, in fact, be used outside the defense arena.

These are only a handful of my concerns, and I think it would be better for this debate to happen more fulsomely between the committees in a conference process.

Mr. Chairman, I invite Chairman Rogers to commit to addressing these concerns by working with our Financial Services Committee members through the NDAA process, and I thank him for yielding me some time today.

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