Shaheen, Tillis Announce New Legislation to Strengthen U.S. Military Readiness to Respond to International Conflicts

Press Release

U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced new legislation today that would ensure the U.S. has sufficient critical munition stocks to support allies and partners in a crisis without depleting U.S. military stocks. The Promoting Readiness for Overseas Contingencies and Unexpected Responses to Exigencies (PROCURE) Act would establish a Critical Munitions Acquisition Fund (CMAF) to allow the Secretary of Defense to better manage industry production lines and sustain particular munitions lines that are critical to U.S. national security interests. Additionally, the authorities granted in the CMAF would help the Department of Defense better anticipate industry's supply chain needs and improve the Department's purchasing power, driving down costs for the government.

"As Putin continues his unprovoked war in Ukraine, and China increases its coercive measures towards Taiwan, ensuring that the U.S. can capably support our democratic allies while maintaining our own military stockpiles in a crisis is essential," said Shaheen. "As we have seen in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. has played an invaluable role in providing our Ukrainian friends with significant amounts of munitions to defend themselves -- most of which has come from U.S. stocks. The PROCURE Act would ensure the U.S. is prepared to help our allies and partners in times of crisis without undermining our own military readiness. It would provide a more effective way to organize our allies' procurement of the munitions required to defend against the threats they face."

"While Putin's illegal invasion resulted in a swift and robust response from the United States and our NATO allies to arm the Ukrainian military, it exposed the fact that we have major inadequacies with our current munition stocks," said Senator Tillis. "Our bipartisan PROCURE Act is essential to improving America's capacity to quickly arm our allies in potential future conflicts without drawing from our own munitions stock, which will greatly enhance our national security and military readiness."

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