Bipartisan BOOTs Act, Introduced in Senate, Aims to Boost US Footwear Production

Yahoo

03-07-2025

A bipartisan coalition of Congressional leaders has brought forth legislation aimed at boosting onshore footwear production for the armed services.
On Wednesday, Representatives Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), Mike Bost (R-Ill.) and Jarden Golden (D-Me.), along with Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Angus King (I-Me.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.) reintroduced the Better Outfitting Our Troops (BOOTs) Act, which proposes that all shoes worn by military personnel should be made in the United States.
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According to the lawmakers, a better known piece of legislation—the Berry Amendment—requires the military to prioritize the procurement of American-made goods, but the market for Army footwear has nonetheless been usurped by foreign products that they say skirt standards for safety and quality. The BOOTs Act would address those concerns, mandating that all optional combat boots worn by servicemembers are compliant with the Berry Amendment and made completely in the U.S. from domestically sourced inputs.
The legislators believe there are multiple benefits from tightening up the loopholes inherent in the Berry Amendment with this new bill, from bolstering U.S. production and supporting American manufacturers to ensuring the safety and reliability of the gear soldiers wear every day.
'We shouldn't be outsourcing the production of critical military equipment to countries like China—we should be making things here in the United States,' Rep. Budzinski said in a statement. 'Today, I'm introducing the BOOTs Act to ensure that our men and women in uniform have high-quality, American-made footwear that supports the demands of training and deployment.'
Budzinski pointed to a business in her own district, the Belleville Shoe Manufacturing Company, as a potential provider of required military footwear and a benefactor of potential new business. The bill would both 'ensure the safety of our military personnel and support good-paying manufacturing jobs here at home,' she added.
In an open letter to the bill's authors, U.S. Footwear Manufacturing Association (USFMA) executive director Bill McCann wrote that the BOOTs Act is 'a vital step toward strengthening our national security, safeguarding the health and safety of our warfighters, and preserving American jobs and manufacturing capacity that form the backbone of our defense industrial base.'
'This commonsense change will improve uniform consistency, reduce confusion forservicemembers, and send a strong demand signal' to domestic footwear producers and their onshore suppliers, which manufacture the components that make up performance and combat footwear.
'At a time when many manufacturers are reinvesting and rebuilding domestic capacity, this legislation ensures that the federal government is a reliable and supportive partner,' he added.
USFMA is one of more than a dozen members of the American Combat Boot Alliance (ACBA), which lent its support to the bill in a letter signed by the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), Unifi, Rubberlite, Signet Mills, Meramec, New Balance, YKK, Milliken and more.
The collective wrote that it represents 'some of the last remaining companies in the United States that can produce the components and combat footwear required by the armed forces'—a goal they remain committed to, as they believe the country is 'dangerously close to losing the most basic capability needed by those who train and fight—the ability to build domestic combat boots that withstand the rigors of austere environments.'
According to the ACBA, current uniform regulations for the Army and Air Force don't preclude personnel from purchasing non-compliant products from overseas that only meet appearance standards. Not only are these shoes deficient from a quality and performance perspective, the loss of business from the armed forces has eroded the domestic footwear supply chain, the collective wrote. In fact, 750,000 pairs of foreign-made combat boots are bought by the military each year, representing what ACBA believes is a direct loss for U.S. businesses.
These products are also subject to the Trump administration's new tariff regime, which may make them more expensive for servicemembers than American-made products. What's more, personnel pay for these products using an annual Congressionally appropriated funding.
'The BOOTs Act will ensure that servicemembers can effectively use their taxpayer-funded uniform allowance to purchase American-made combat footwear,' ACBA wrote. 'At a time while Congress is focused on both domestic manufacturing and acquisition reform provisions, the BOOTs Act is a strong step forward.'
The BOOTs Act was introduced in the Senate on Thursday and was referred to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, where it will be reviewed and considered before it has a chance to move to the Senate floor for a vote.