Political Quotes

“Just a few days before Christmas, on December 21, President Joe Biden issued a Presidential determination with little fanfare under the Defense Production Act of 1950. The Defense Production Act of 1950 is a Korean war-era law that allows the government to accelerate production of critical materials and technology. It is the same law that Presidents Trump and Biden used to stimulate production of COVID-related ventilators and PPE during the pandemic. In his memorandum to the Secretary of Defense, Biden noted that: ``Ensuring a robust, resilient, and competitive domestic defense industrial base that has the . . . workforce to meet the Virginia-class submarine undersea warfighting mission is essential to our national security.'' To accomplish that mission, the President invoked DPA authorities to expand the domestic production capability for ``large-scale fabrication, shipbuilding industrial base expansion for resilience and robustness, and maritime workforce training pipelines.'' As chair of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, which oversees the Virginia-class program, I strongly support the President's decision because it is based on both strategic national defense considerations and industrial base demand. Indeed, just a few days after Christmas, the President signed into law the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which contained provisions my subcommittee authored that are completely aligned with the President's DPA order.…”