Warren Secures Wins on Military Right to Repair, Defense Contractor Stock Buybacks, Service Member Safety in Senate FY 2027 NDAA

Warren Secures Wins on Military Right to Repair, Defense Contractor Stock Buybacks, Service Member Safety in Senate FY 2027 NDAA

Executive Summary of the FY 27 NDAA (Website)

Washington, D.C. - During the Senate Armed Services Committee's (SASC) markup of the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (FY27 NDAA) this week, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, secured key wins including on right to repair, defense contractor stock buybacks, military housing, consumer protection, service member health and safety, and more. All were secured with bipartisan support in the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senator Warren secured the following provisions in SASC's version of the FY 27 NDAA:

Right to Repair

• Senator Sheehy and Senator Warren secured key provisions to advance their Warrior Right to Repair Act by expanding the military's access to repair materials, holding companies who falsely assert restrictions accountable, and giving the military flexibility to contract with other companies to perform military repairs in wartime and contingency operations.

Stock Buybacks

"Giant military contractors are cheating our government out of billions in taxpayer dollars and lining their executives' and shareholders' pockets instead of investing in our national defense. It's time to stop these contractors from putting Wall Street over our national security," said Senator Warren.

• A provision prohibiting companies from buying their own stock if they are not meeting DoD's performance needs, including a portion of Senator Warren's bipartisan Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting bill with Senators Hawley and Lee.

Military Housing and Child Care

• A provision banning landlords from requesting that tenants sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in privatized military housing and privatized unaccompanied housing. This provision advances sections from Senators Warren and Ossoff's Restore Military Families' Voices Act;
• A provision building on the public complaint database, the DoD Housing Feedback System, for tenants that Senator Warren required DoD to establish in the fiscal year 2020 NDAA. This provision requires the DoD to make service members and military families aware of the DoD Housing Feedback System and ensures that complaints cannot be arbitrarily altered, deleted, or suppressed;
• A provision expanding tenant protections against landlord reprisal or retaliation in privatized military housing. It improves retaliation investigation processes and clarifies that tenants have a right to report housing issues to Congress as well as the DoD Inspector General and Chief Housing Officer, not just their chain of command or housing management office. This provision advances sections from Senators Warren and Ossoff's Restore Military Families' Voices Act; and
• A provision requiring the Secretary of Defense to update pay scales for child and youth programs and directing the Secretary of Defense to fully update the pay scale for childcare employees based on FY 2025 NDAA requirements, as well as to standardize collection of childcare capacity and waitlists.

Consumer Protection

• A provision directing the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to the congressional defense committees outlining the financial literacy training and direct deposit processes in place for new members of the Armed Forces.

Service Member Health and Safety

• A provision to require the Defense Health Agency to review military hospitals' compliance with the Department's existing chaperone policies;
• A provision to codify a requirement for the Secretary of Defense to establish and implement a Department-wide policy requiring a medical chaperone to be offered during sensitive medical examinations conducted at military treatment facilities;
• A provision requiring the Government Accountability Office to review access to care for military families at U.S. military treatment facilities;
• A provision directing the Secretary to provide a briefing on the impact of federal funding cuts to vaccine technology and research for new vaccines on service members, military families, and military readiness;
• A provision encouraging DoD to improve early identification of brain injuries, including through non-profit partnerships, and requiring the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing on traumatic brain injury (TBI) prevalence, early intervention efforts, existing non-profit partnerships, and opportunities for such partnerships;
• A provision requiring the Secretary of Defense to provide a briefing on the feasibility of regular cognitive testing and establishing blast overpressure and TBI logs, and encouraging DoD to approach brain health, blast overpressure exposure tracking, and suicide risk analysis as force health protection; and
• A provision requiring DoD to brief Congress on its efforts to address brain injury risks among fighter pilots, speedboat crews, military instructors, explosive ordnance disposal technicians, and service members in military occupational specialties at higher risks for brain injuries during air- and sea-based operations.

Politicization of the Military

• A provision requiring the Government Accountability Office to review the Department's use of judge advocate generals (JAGs) to support Department of Justice (DOJ) operations, including their use as immigration judges and special prosecutors, and its impact on morale and readiness.

Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Supply Chains

• A provision requiring the Government Accountability Office to audit the TRICARE pharmacy contract, including contractor-reported data relating to reimbursement rates and price concessions, discrepancies between reimbursements to various types of pharmacies (including pharmacies owned by or affiliated with the contractor), the timeliness of dispensing prescription drugs, and the adequacy of the TRICARE pharmacy network;
• A provision requiring the Government Accountability Office to conduct a review of the TRICARE pharmacy program, including an assessment of beneficiary access, such as through mail-order pharmacy services; prescription drug costs; the Defense Health Agency's management and oversight of the program, including whether it is effectively able to minimize fraud, waste, and abuse risks; an assessment of conflicts of interest in the program due to vertical integration; differences between reimbursement rates of affiliated and nonaffiliated pharmacies; and an analysis of pharmacies under common ownership with pharmacy contractors; and
• A provision requiring the Department to provide a briefing on how it will address the Inspector General's findings on pharmaceutical quality and risk management and implement recommendations to encourage investment in domestic, allied, and partner research and manufacturing as outlined in the Department's November 2023 report on pharmaceutical supply chain risks. Senator Warren initially secured a review of the military's pharmaceutical supply chains in the FY 2023 NDAA.

Artificial Intelligence and Preventing Contractor Price Gouging

• A provision advancing sections from Senator Warren and Senator Schmitt's Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act. The provision requires the Department to undertake a competitive process in its procurement of AI and cloud computing services and prioritize multi-vendor technology, promote interoperability and prohibit contractors from using Department information to train commercial products;
• A provision requiring the Department to provide a briefing on the changes necessary to transition to a vendor agnostic, multi-cloud infrastructure;
• A provision requiring contractors to report price spikes over certain thresholds, based on the Senators Warren, Ernst, Slotkin, and Grassley's Transparency in Contract Pricing Act; and
• A provision eliminating contractors' late submission of cost or pricing data as a defense against defective pricing.

Increasing Transparency

• A provision advancing sections from Senator Warren and Senator Grassley's Improving Transparency of Foreign Influence on Department of Defense Contractors that would strengthen beneficial ownership reporting requirements for Defense contractors and subcontractors by lowering the threshold for reporting and foreign ownership review from $5 million in contracts to $500,000; and

• A provision imposing reporting requirements on the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA), which represents DoD on the End-User Review Committee, a committee that reviews licenses for AI chips to China.

Improving DoD Accountability

• A provision requiring DoD to report on the full scope of DoD's review of Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers for conduct at Wounded Knee Creek, including providing Congress with unredacted materials of all documents considered, eyewitness accounts reviewed, and individuals the panelists met with.

Reducing Climate Risks

• A provision requiring the Government Accountability Office to review the impacts of extreme heat risks on personnel, infrastructure, and training, as well as recommendations to increase extreme heat preparedness and response efforts.

Education

• A provision directing the Government Accountability Office to issue a report on servicemembers' access to legally owed student debt cancellation, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge programs.

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