National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2027.

This amendment addresses a serious defense industrial base and national security issue: ensuring the United States can efficiently recycle, recover, and reuse materials from defense articles and scrap metal without being blocked by inconsistent State and local rules.

Our military depends on secure and reliable access to strategic and critical materials. At a time when China controls or influences major portions of global critical mineral and metal supply chains, the United States cannot afford to waste recoverable materials from our own defense systems, equipment, and munitions.

This amendment ensures that the physical or mechanical processing of scrap metal, as well as the disposition and recycling of defense articles, is governed by a clear Federal standard rather than a patchwork of conflicting State and local requirements.

While this amendment is expressly focused on critical metals that often incorporate sensitive military technology, the amendment prevents non-identical State or local rules in this narrow area while preserving applicable Federal standards.

It is limited in scope to ensure chemical treatment, stabilization, fixation, and neutralization of waste are expressly excluded, preserving State authority over hazardous chemical processes and maintaining existing environmental protections.

We have repeatedly heard from both Republicans and Democrats a litany of concerns over how dependent the United States is on foreign sources for critical minerals. We know how incredibly difficult it is to build a new mine and refining capacity in the United States.

I would like to hope that we can at least come together and agree to keeping sensitive technology and the materials that can be recovered from our military equipment within the domestic supply chain.

This is not about lowering safety or environmental standards. This is not about lowering safety or environmental standards. The amendment is narrowly focused on physical and mechanical scrap processing and defense article recycling. It does not cover chemical treatment, stabilization, fixation, or neutralization of waste generated by that processing.

At a time of growing global instability, we should be doing everything possible to strengthen domestic supply chains, reduce dependence on adversaries, and support the defense industrial base.

This amendment is a commonsense national security measure that helps ensure critical materials from defense articles can be responsibly recovered, recycled, and reused for America's security needs.

Mr. Chair, I respectfully urge my colleagues to support this amendment and its inclusion in the NDAA, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chair, will you make sure that the gentleman is looking at the same amendment that I am proposing here, because he obviously does not understand it.

This is not about lowering safety or environmental standards. This amendment is narrowly focused on physical and mechanical scrap processing and defense article recycling. It doesn't cover chemical treatment. It doesn't cover stabilization, fixation, or neutralization of waste generated by that processing.

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chair, for the life of me, I do not understand why they want to cut off their nose to spite their face. This is national security here, Mr. Chairman. This is not trying to preempt the laws. It is narrowly focused. We are talking about recycling national defense materials that include critical minerals, scrap metal.

For the life of me, I don't understand how this is benefiting one company. It is benefiting the United States of America. This is recycling. This is environmentally safe, environmentally sound, environmentally friendly.

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chair, this is commonsense legislation. This is not trying to benefit one company. This is trying to benefit the United States of America, both environmentally and, more importantly, our national security. It is recycling material of critical minerals that we need.

It ensures that the physical and mechanical processing of scrap metal, as well as the disposition and recycling of defense articles, is governed by a clear Federal standard rather than a patchwork of conflicting State and local requirements.

We are not trying to preempt anyone. We are just simply trying to secure America, trying to be environmentally friendly, and trying to recycle.

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Chair, obviously, I am not getting through here. I am just flabbergasted. I do not understand how the gentleman doesn't understand how this benefits the United States of America.

Forget about California. Forget about Georgia. We are talking about the United States and national security.

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

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