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| Science & Technology |
| U.S. contractors fight foreign metals ban |
| 2006-07-06 |
| A high-stakes battle affecting the fortunes of the U.S. defense and electronics industries will intensify later this month. Negotiators from the Armed Services committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled later in July to begin conference talks on the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill. At issue is whether defense manufacturers can buy certain metals, such as titanium and zirconium, from foreign contractors, or if they must rely solely on domestic suppliers for the in-demand products, CongressDaily reported Wednesday. Worried industry trade groups, whose member companies have long been able to circumvent a law requiring the content of specialty metals be 100 percent domestically produced, have been gearing up lobbying campaigns aimed at ensuring any conference agreement will not change the status quo. Their activism has been prompted partly by the U.S. Department of Defense, which began stepping up enforcement of the law in the last year despite past indifference toward industry infractions involving minor equipment parts, CongressDaily said. The White House has threatened to veto a defense authorization bill that contains language now in the House of Representatives version, which administration officials argue would strengthen the 1973 domestic-source law known as the Berry Amendment, the report said. The House provisions also leave open the possibility of expanding the list of protected specialty metals by establishing a Strategic Materials Review Board in the Pentagon, which would be able to add materials to the list. But the House insists its provision merely clarifies and enforces existing law and would not adversely affect the military. "The House is committed to protecting our industrial base and identifying and protecting those items critical to national security," a House committee aide told CongressDaily. The Senate inserted language in its version of the bill that would exempt certain commercial items, including electronics, from the law. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 How about providing for that old concept of the Strategic Metals Reserve. Just In Time delivery doesn't work during a war. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-07-06 22:04 |