Testimony before the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions
March 11, 2024
By Todd N. Tucker
Todd N. Tucker’s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions
Watch the hearing: Mission Critical: Restoring National Security as the Focus of Defense Production Act Reauthorization
The DPA Promotes the Health of the Economy as a Whole—Military and Civilian
My fellow witnesses have described the unique contributions and role that DPA has in providing for the national defense as conventionally understood. I will not repeat their many valid points.
Rather, I will note that, despite conclusions one might draw from the statute’s name, neither the DPA, nor its predecessor laws from the Franklin Roosevelt administration (the War Powers Acts of 1941 and 1942), is narrowly focused on military issues or military procurement. From the beginning, the health of the civilian economy—and in particular energy production—has been a central animating concern. After all, we do not have two economies: Many industries produce for both the military and civilian sectors.
