At Hearing, Warren and Scott Urge Swift, Bipartisan Reauthorization of Defense Production Act to Strengthen Our National Security, Supply Chain Resilience, and Ability to Respond to Emergencies
“As we struggle, the People’s Republic of China moves forward.”
“We don’t need to accept this. We have the tools to reshore critical supply chains. We can deepen cooperation with our allies, and we can build resilience here at home. One tool to help us do that is the Defense Production Act, which we must reauthorize before it lapses in September.”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee gave opening remarks at a hearing on “Securing America: Key Authorities Under the Defense Production Act.”
At the hearing, Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ranking Member Warren made the case for the Defense Production Act (DPA) centered around the authority’s importance to our national security, supply chain resilience, and ability to respond to emergencies. Warren urged her colleagues in Congress to not let the authority that expired in September to lapse.
Below are Ranking Member Warren’s opening remarks:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding today’s hearing on the Defense Production Act. I appreciate our working on this together in a bipartisan way.
For 75 years, the DPA has been a cornerstone of our efforts to build a more robust industrial base and advance our national defense.
Congress passed the DPA in 1950, and President Truman rapidly deployed it to help our country mobilize for the Korean War.
Throughout the Cold War, we used the DPA to mobilize the nation’s industrial might.
During the 1980s and 1990s, we used the DPA to seed investments in key technologies - like microelectronics and metal composites - that enhanced our warfighting capabilities and technological edge.
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, we used the DPA to speed up the distribution of fuel to the disaster zone.
During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration used the DPA to fast-track production of defibrillators, masks, and other medical equipment.
When the People’s Republic of China threatened to cut off our access to critical minerals, the Biden Administration used the DPA to jumpstart critical mineral production in the United States.
In the toolkit of economic and national security tools, the DPA is among the oldest - and it is absolutely essential to the challenges our country faces today and into the future.
For decades, our nation offshored jobs and industries. We failed to invest in growing dynamic, competitive markets in critical industries at home. We let big corporations grow, crush competition, and pursue short-term profits, even when it meant depriving us of good paying jobs, undermining our technological edge, and eroding our industrial base.
The results speak for themselves: Today, we have more fragile supply chains and are more dependent on foreign countries than at any point in modern American history.
Take these examples:
In 1990, we made 37% of the world’s chips. Today, we make only 12%.
In 1986, we had U.S.-flagged ocean-going vessels. Today we have 80.
Because of offshoring by Big Pharma, 9 out of every 10 prescriptions is a drug manufactured overseas.
This leaves us dangerously vulnerable. It takes one major disruption - a fire at a factory halfway around the world, a war between two foreign countries, or a natural disaster abroad or at home - to cause massive supply chain disruptions.
In 2021, a drought in Taiwan and severe weather in Texas led to a global semiconductor shortage that shut down production lines across the United States. Experts estimated that this disruption cost the United States economy $240 billion in one year. A similar disruption in the supply chain for life-saving drugs and antibiotics could also be economically devastating – and cost American lives.
As we struggle, the People’s Republic of China moves forward. China has used non-market policies and practices to capture crucial industries like semiconductors, batteries, and pharmaceuticals—industries that we once dominated.
China is also using its leverage over critical supply chains to exert more influence internationally. In recent months, the Chinese government has implemented bans on export of critical minerals and rare-earth magnets to the United States in response to President Trump’s tariffs – and even told countries like South Korea that rely on Chinese inputs that they must stop exporting critical materials and equipment to some U.S. companies.
We don’t need to accept this. We have the tools to reshore critical supply chains. We can deepen cooperation with our allies, and we can build resilience here at home. One tool to help us do that is the Defense Production Act, which we must reauthorize before it lapses in September.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your holding this hearing. I’m eager to work with you on these critical issues.
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