Political Quotes

“Thank you for yielding me this time, and I ask that we enter a colloquy to discuss the Arcuri-Shuler-Davis amendment and the health of the titanium industrial base. As this bill recognizes, providing high technology equipment to the Department of Defense is a major source of high-paying, high-skilled jobs throughout this country. Although it is easy to think of the industrial base in terms of big aerospace companies, the real guts of these systems are mostly built by small parts assembly suppliers located throughout this country. I represent a number of those firms in my district. Congress has long recognized that certain industrial capacities important to the Department of Defense are critical to maintain in this country; among these are the ability to produce titanium parts made from titanium. Section 2533(b) of Title 10 of the United States Code requires the products procured by the Department of Defense which contain titanium must use titanium metal and titanium parts produced in the United States. The law contains a number of exceptions, however, that allow for metal and parts produced overseas to enter the supply chain. I am concerned that the use of these exceptions has expanded far beyond Congress' original intent and may be undermining the law.”