2 days ago
Republican senators mystified by $1 billion added to their megabill
A mysterious $1 billion for a law that lets the president mobilize certain industrial sectors during an emergency is tucked into the Senate's version of President Donald Trump's megabill.
And Republicans told Semafor they aren't sure what the Defense Production Act money is for.
The funding has become something of a mystery among Banking Committee Republicans, who said in interviews this week that they are trying to figure out what the cash is intended to do before they vote on the bill.
But as one Republican senator said about the Trump administration: 'They won't tell us.'
'It's hard to be supportive of it if we don't know what it's for,' Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said.
'It's uncomfortable, for sure. A billion dollars is a billion dollars. And it would be nice if we knew what it was specifically aiming at.'
Some GOP aides suspect the money could be tied to Trump's recent use of the Defense Production Act to boost US production of critical minerals, like aluminum and coal, in order to reduce reliance on supplies from less-friendly nations like China and Russia. The president signed an executive order invoking the law in March and issued a waiver of key legal requirements — including some congressional approvals — last month.
A White House official said in an interview that the administration is looking at using the funding to use subsidies, grants and loan guarantees to support 'critical energy projects that have a defense nexus.' That could include shaping the production and refinement of critical minerals, boosting the US coal industry and helping develop more domestic LNG.
Promoting 'private-sector activity in order to make the nation more secure and the grid more reliable, is, I think, the name of the game here,' the official said.
A spokesperson for Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., pointed to a hearing the committee held on the Defense Production Act in May, where witnesses testified on China's use of critical-minerals exports as leverage and the need to revamp the law. Congress will need to reauthorize the statute later this year.
'As Chairman Scott has stated, the Defense Production Act plays an important role in strengthening supply lines critical to our national defense and emergency preparedness,' the spokesperson said in a statement.'The Banking Committee's provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill will provide important funding to bolster domestic production of key national security components.'
Some Republicans didn't even know the $1 billion provision was in there.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she 'would have had a duck fit' had she known about it earlier.
'I've asked the same question; I don't have an answer yet,' Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Semafor. 'If you want a billion dollars, I want to know what it's being used for.'
The White House official acknowledged that there's probably 'a little bit of work to do' in educating Republican lawmakers about the request: 'We want to make sure that we're clear and transparent with our colleagues on the Hill about the priorities that we're seeking.'
The Defense Production Act has been used regularly since its passage, including to boost production of goods to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The then-Democratic Congress passed a provision in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act directing $500 million to increase production of energy technologies. That was in response to a Biden administration request; indeed, a Senate Banking Committee press release on its reconciliation text describes the provision as 'a priority of President Trump.'
The questions around the DPA provision are just one hangup for the Banking Committee's proposed section of the megabill. Panel Republicans leaving a Thursday briefing expressed skepticism that some of Scott's proposed changes to the House bill would survive the Senate's strict budgetary rules.
'There was some weird stuff that happened on Thursday,' Lummis said.
Given the stakes of the larger bill, $1 billion won't make or break its passage, but it's unusual for senators from the president's party to not know what money in their legislation is for and say they can't get answers about it. Democratic senators are, understandably, highlighting that uncertainty as they push for a hearing on the legislation.
'I have no idea' what the money is for, said the Banking Committee's top Democrat, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. 'Have you asked them? Do any of them know?'
'There's been no hearing. No briefing. Nothing,' Warren added.
The Trump administration is waiving some requirements under the Defense Production Act, Reuters reported.
