Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I am pleased to offer my amendment that addresses an important supply chain issue related to defense electronics. Driven by environmental regulations outside the United States, the worldwide $1 trillion commercial electronics industry converted to lead-free components over 15 years ago. Despite this global transition, the United States aerospace and defense electronics industry continues to rely upon lead-based assembly technology because lead-based assembly is considered structurally superior. To ensure the reliability and performance of lead-free technology for defense and aerospace electronics, additional research and development are needed. Because the DOD electronics market is just a small fraction of the broader electronics market, commercial industry needs Federal leadership in this area. As technological advances in civilian electronics continue to incorporate lead-free technology, this problem will only become more acute. As a result, the DOD cannot rapidly integrate state-of-the-art lead-free components, including semiconductors, for cutting-edge technologies like hypersonics, artificial intelligence, and robotics that impact numerous DOD weapons systems. This disconnect between the defense and commercial electronics industries can no longer be ignored.…”