Deluzio, Moore, Cloud Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Invest in American Military Depots

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, Congressmembers Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Blake Moore (R-UT-01), and Michael Cloud (R-TX-27) introduced the Depot Investment Reform Act to help military depots across the United States respond to rapidly changing national security needs around the world by making federal investments more responsive.

"America's military needs to be ready and prepared for whatever comes our way," said Congressman Chris Deluzio. "This is a top priority in my work on the House Armed Services Committee, and I am proud to join my House colleagues and Senators to help improve our military depots and boost our military readiness."

"I am immensely proud to represent the hardworking civilian engineers and technicians of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill Air Force Base in Congress. Known as the nation's fighter depot center of excellence, the outstanding work happening at HAFB to maintain fourth and fifth generation air power generates deterrence against U.S. adversaries, such as China and Russia. I led this bill with Congressman Deluzio, Congressman Cloud, Senator Fetterman, and Senator Cotton to address longstanding investment shortfalls in our nation's depots, which are required to operate during times when it is not profitable for private industry to do so. This bill ensures that annual DoD investments into our depots are more closely tied to future workload and readiness needs and will help our depots better plan, staff, and manage during emergency situations." - Congressman Blake Moore.

"The Depot Investment Reform Actis a key step toward advancing America's military readiness-not just here at home, but around the world. Reforming the investment formula ensures timely support for the men and women who keep our forces sharp, ready, and dominant on the world stage." - Congressman Michael Cloud.

The Depot Investment Reform Act would improve military depot responsiveness by updating the formula used to determine federal investments in these depots. Currently, funding levels are determined based on the average workload of the previous three fiscal years. The Depot Investment Reform Act would change this formula to consider the workload average of the previous fiscal year, current fiscal year, and estimate for the next fiscal year to determine investments. By allowing future estimates to be included in investment calculations, this change would help military depots respond to rapidly changing needs. During periods of increased revenue, the investment formula set by the Depot Investment Reform Act would likely generate a higher minimum investment than the current formula, allowing the depots to receive adequate funding to meet demand. By considering both past and future workloads, this method may create a more stable investment amount in both times of increasing and decreasing revenue, allowing depots across the nation to plan for the future with confidence.

Military depots are essential to maintaining military readiness by ensuring critical weapons systems are being repaired and returned for use in training and operations. Tobyhanna Army Depot and Letterkenny Army Depot, both located in Pennsylvania, have played essential roles in arming U.S. servicemembers with reliable weapons, technology, and platforms throughout U.S. military history.

Last week, Senators John Fetterman (D-PA) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

The full bill text of the House version is available here.

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