South SFV Today

Washington, D.C.—On June 22, Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) voted no on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024.

"I voted against the NDAA because it puts the Pentagon spending on track to a trillion dollar defense budget," said Rep. Ro Khanna. "Too much of that money is going to defense contractors, who are ripping off American taxpayers at every turn by raising prices to unprecedented levels. We have to stop the fraud and waste. While we should invest in defense technologies of the future, we must focus on investing in the health of our people, in the education of our people, in the industries of the future as we compete with China, and mitigating the climate crisis, which is our greatest national security threat.

"However, I still secured an important victory in the bill that will improve the transparency of Department of Defense supply chains. Currently, The DoD does not have a clear understanding of where the parts for our weapons originate from. The lack of transparency poses a risk to national security. We need to understand whether the U.S. is reliant on foreign adversaries for critical components of its weapon systems, and fix these vulnerabilities in our supply chains. My amendment requires that the Department of Defense start providing answers to Congress."

An overview of Representative Khanna's amendment is below.

Securing Domestic Defense Manufacturing

Request a study from the Government Accountability Office on the Department of Defense's reliance on foreign entities. The report will include:

1. A description of the procurement processes of the Department of Defense
2. An explanation of which countries weapons systems are sourced from, and descriptions of vulnerabilities in the Department's supply chains
3. Recommendations for legislative or administrative actions to address supply chain vulnerabilities

Original source can be found here