As lawmakers prepare to consider H.R. 3838, the Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, NTU is urging lawmakers to vote in the best interests of taxpayers on the following amendments to the underlying bill. We believe these amendments would have significant implications for taxpayers, limited government, or free market principles:
Support
Amendment #9 from Reps. Patronis (R-FL) and Moore (AL): This amendment would end the Biden Administration’s mandate that gives preferential treatment to electric and hybrid non-tactical vehicles over fossil-fuel powered non-tactical vehicles currently being used by the military. Procurement decisions should be based on taxpayer cost and combat necessity—not climate mandates.
Amendment #58 from Reps. Biggs (R-AZ), Crane (R-AZ), and Pocan (D-WI): This amendment, which NTU has long supported, would require the Pentagon to pass an audit. If the Defense Department fails, the discretionary budget for the agency or department will be reduced by 0.5%. Taxpayers deserve to know that their resources are being spent and stewarded with the utmost care. An audit is a nearly universally accepted method of ensuring the financial integrity of an organization and its internal controls. The continuing inability of the Pentagon to successfully complete an audit should prompt congressional action and budgetary penalties.
Amendment #78 from Rep. Cammack (R-FL): This amendment would require the Pentagon to establish a clear timeline for achieving a clean financial audit. An audit is a nearly universally accepted method of ensuring the financial integrity of an organization and its internal controls. While the DoD may be making progress to pass an audit by 2028, it must be able to clearly show its plan for delivering such a result.
Amendment #111 from Rep. Edwards (R-NC): This amendment would require the Pentagon to collect information on office space occupancy data. Keeping track of these details will help the Pentagon avoid wasting taxpayer dollars on unused office space.
Amendment #125 from Rep. Frost (D-FL) and Rep. Horsford (D-NV): This amendment requires an annual report for four years on taxpayer money saved through oversight of waste, fraud, and abuse in defense spending. Reporting requirements like these help safeguard taxpayer funds from being wasted.
Amendment #206 from Reps. Moolenaar (R-MI), Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), LaHood (R-IL), Luttrell (R-TX), Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Goodlander (D-NH): This bipartisan amendment establishes an initiative to prepare to fully harness the transformative potential of advanced artificial intelligence. This emerging technology has the potential to greatly increase DoD’s efficiency, which we hope will result in more productive uses of taxpayer dollars.
Oppose
Amendment #47 from Rep. Barr (R-KY): This amendment would prohibit funds from being used to potentially reduce the number of civilian personnel at a specific Depot in Kentucky. Taxpayer dollars should be used to maximize efficiencies, and this amendment would tie the Pentagon’s hands from shifting resources.
Amendment #97 from Rep. Cloud (R-TX): This amendment would prohibit funds from being used to potentially reduce the number of civilian personnel at a specific Depot in Texas. Taxpayer dollars should be used to maximize efficiencies, and this amendment would tie the Pentagon’s hands from shifting resources.
Amendment #119 from Rep. Finstad (R-MN), Rep. Wittman (R-VA), Rep. Kiggans (R-VA), and Rep. Courtney (D-CT): This amendment authorizes the use of contracts using cost plus incentive-fee contracting for certain military construction projects associated with Shipyard Infrastructure. The implementation of a “cost-plus” system harms taxpayers by creating the potential for runaway costs without the strictures of a fixed-price contract.
Amendment #194 from Rep. Mace (R-SC): This amendment provides that statutory exceptions to the DoD Buy America procurement requirements shall not apply with respect to the procurement of fish, shellfish, or a seafood product. This needlessly increases costs for taxpayers by limiting the options the Pentagon has to choose from.
Amendment #247 from Rep. Obernolte (R-CA): This amendment would raise taxpayer costs by expanding “Buy America” provisions for some components of military equipment. These requirements will drive up the cost of defense projects, leading to higher spending at the taxpayer’s expense. Congress should focus on making U.S. manufacturers more competitive, instead of making other options uncompetitive.
Amendment #266 from Rep. Self (R-TX): This amendment would raise the prevailing wage rate for certain Department of Defense Employees, which would thereby increase costs to the federal government. Higher payroll costs should be estimated and offset elsewhere in the DOD budget.
Amendment #281 from Rep. Steube (R-FL): This amendment would require the Defense Health Agency to develop plans to reopen clinics that have closed on military installations and pay chiropractors under the GS scale. Reopening these clinics and hiring of workers would use taxpayer resources that are not offset by this amendment.
Amendment #209 from Moulton (D-MA): This amendment would provide a questionable spending authority, the Other Transaction Authority (OTA), to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Agencies have used this authority in the past to spend taxpayer resources without transparency or oversight, though Senator Ernst has successfully included a provision in this year’s Senate NDAA that would fix this loophole.