Sean Patrick Maloney: “my amendment deals with what sometimes lies within so-called procurement reform legislation. My amendment deals with a…”

“my amendment deals with what sometimes lies within so-called procurement reform legislation. My amendment deals with a corporate subsidy in this bill that has nothing to do with procurement reform. The subsidy in question is the elimination of a program that requires defense contractors to repay the Government for some of the $30 billion annually taxpayers invest in research and development for private military contractors. The recoupment fee is intended to recoup some of the billions the taxpayers have paid to develop major military systems when the defense contractor sells this technology to a foreign nation. The fee averages just 3 to 5 percent of the gross price of the contract. The authors of this bill are eliminating the recoupment program calling it a tax on American defense contractors. I say recoupment gives a fair return for the American taxpayer's investment in the research and development of new weapons and technology. Taxpayer dollars help fund the research and development in the first place. There wouldn't be these new weapons systems if it wasn't for the american taxpayer. This public-private partnership is one of the reasons the United States is the world's leading arms exporter, dominating the market with 70 percent of the world's share. We sell more arms than all the other nations of the world combined.”