WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement regarding President Trump’s executive orders pertaining to reform of the foreign military sales process, defense acquisition, and the defense industrial base:
“I welcome President Trump’s efforts to overcome longstanding issues with the foreign military sales (FMS) process, expand U.S. defense production capacity, and provide weapons to our closest allies and partners faster. The current foreign military sales process has been broken for many years. It’s too hard to understand and is plagued by bureaucratic delays and lengthy requirements that leave our partners waiting for years. Additionally, the dismal state of the U.S. defense industrial base constrains our ability to fill orders that have been on the books for years, and very simply, keeps us from doing the level of business necessary to meet the needs and demands of our partners.
“The chronic delays and systemic problems in U.S. arms deliveries have unfortunately become synonymous with the FMS process. The result is that our adversaries like China and Russia are doing more business with nations who should be partnering with us. Meanwhile, our friends in Europe are more serious than ever about competing with U.S. industry—this is not bad news, but it could be if we don’t work with them on co-development and co-production of military equipment, while addressing supply chain inadequacies. This will benefit all of us as we fight to deter our adversaries. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which oversees arms sales, I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to ensure that Congress and the State Department are closely collaborating on foreign military sales reform.”
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