Trump is forcing U.S. companies to manufacture more weaponry

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is using his executive authority to force defense companies to quickly produce more weaponry as his administration presses lawmakers to pass additional defense spending to replenish stockpiles depleted during the U.S.-led war with Iran.

Trump quietly invoked the Defense Production Act last week to address rising concerns within his administration about the shortfall of munitions, according to a memo filed in the Federal Register on Tuesday.

“I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs,” Trump wrote in a June 11 memo to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Production constraints and supply chain concerns “may impair the ability of the United States to produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions, missiles, and equipment required for the national defense,” he wrote.

Hegseth was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday meeting with Senate Republicans about a $350 billion reconciliation package for additional Defense Department funding that the administration wants them to pass, specifically to replenish munitions.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that his meeting with Hegseth “was primarily about funding for the department” and that the Pentagon is “running short of funding they need in order to acquire the weapons and missiles and things like that that they need to protect the nation.”

The Defense Production Act is a 1950s-era law that gives the president a broad set of authorities to expand and expedite the supply of materials, including by ordering private companies to prioritize orders from the federal government. It also allows companies to collaborate in ways that could otherwise be seen as collusion or not competitive.

It is often invoked to address emergencies, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks or pandemics, like Covid-19.

Top administration officials have been concerned about the depleting stockpiles for months, and Trump has publicly urged defense companies to manufacture more munitions. In March, just days into the war with Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, NBC News reported that Trump administration officials had discussed with lawmakers the idea of invoking the Defense Production Act to accelerate the production of munitions.

Publicly, the White House insisted there are plenty of weapons.

“We have unlimited middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war,” Trump told reporters at the time, and a White House official later said he was referring to the range of the munitions.

Trump was expected to meet with defense industry leaders about depleting stockpile of munitions last Friday, NBC News reported, but the meeting was pushed until this week or next week by developments in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran to end the war that were dominating his attention, according to two people familiar with the planning.

The U.S. and Iran have agreed to a memorandum of understanding to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the two countries negotiate a broader deal over 60 days. The Trump administration hasn’t released details of the memorandum of understanding; Trump has said they will be public after a signing ceremony Friday.

Since the agreement was reached Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has fired multiple drones toward commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a U.S. official. The official said the U.S. military has been shooting down the drones before they can threaten the commercial ships or U.S. military vessels and personnel in the region.

Hegseth has denied there is a munitions shortage, including in an interview that aired Sunday, when he said, “Our stockpiles are strong and they will only get stronger in the future.”

“That is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle, and ultimately our stockpiles are great, and they’re only getting stronger,” Hegseth said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The defense spending package he was trying to persuade Republican senators to support Tuesday could pass without requiring votes from Democrats, according to a source with direct knowledge of Hegseth’s discussions.

Hegseth met with at least three Republicans on Tuesday — Cornyn, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Cornyn said he supports the administration’s effort but is concerned Democrats wouldn’t back any new defense funding. But Democrats aren’t the only hurdle for the White House, which is preparing to submit a formal supplemental request to Congress, according to multiple senators.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who voted several times with Democrats to try to force Trump to end the war in Iran, said that while she remains open to approving funds to cover war costs, the administration needs to justify the expense.

Democrats haven’t ruled out supporting a supplemental funding package but are reluctant to do so while the Iran war remains unresolved and without a thorough briefing from Trump administration officials, according to a person familiar with the administration’s conversations with lawmakers.

“As long as we are at war with Iran, I will not allow a supplemental to serve as the de facto authorization for the war. And I’ve been debating this with Republican colleagues,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat tasked with appropriating funds for the Pentagon, said in an interview last week.

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