Northeast Ohio Delegation Amends Defense Bill To Support Domestic Rubber Production
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Emilia Strong Sykes (OH-13) announced members of the Northeast Ohio House Delegation teamed up for a bipartisan amendment to H.R. 2670, the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), to support domestic natural rubber production. The amendment calls upon the Department of Defense to take all appropriate action to lessen our military’s dependence on adversarial nations for strategically critical materials, including natural rubber, a key industry in Northeast Ohio.
The amendment was filed by Congressman Dave Joyce (OH-14), Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11), Congresswoman Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Congressman Max Miller (OH-07) and unanimously passed the House on Wednesday. The House is considering other amendments and the underlying legislation this week. The NDAA authorizes funding and establishes policy for the Department of Defense (DoD).
The DoD’s Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Materials recognizes natural rubber as a material of interest. Natural rubber is used in the production of tires and inner tubes, footwear, hoses and belting, gaskets and for sealing.
“A healthy and resilient supply chain is critical to maintaining America’s national security, but the COVID-19 pandemic showed just how fragile many of our supply chains are. Rubber is a key material in our defense systems, utilized in everything from tanks to airplanes. This commonsense, bipartisan amendment demonstrates Congress’ commitment to ensuring the Department of Defense is doing all it can to secure these integral rubber supply chains, including promoting research and development efforts to diversify our rubber production and keep our country safe,” said Congresswoman Emilia Sykes. “Ohio’s 13th Congressional District was once known as the ‘Rubber Capital of the World,’ so no one knows better just how vital a resource rubber is than the people of Northeast Ohio. I’m proud to co-lead this important amendment with my colleagues Reps. Brown, Joyce, and Miller, and I look forward to its passage in the Senate.”
The full text of the amendment is as follows:
At the appropriate place in subtitle C of tittle VIII, insert the following:
It is the sense of Congress that the Department of Defense should take all appropriate action to lessen our military’s dependence on adversarial nations for the procurement of strategic and critical materials, and that one such material in short supply according to the most recent report from Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Material is natural rubber, undermining our national security and jeopardizing the military’s ability to rely on a stable source of natural rubber for tire manufacturing and production of other goods. Accordingly, the Secretary is directed to take all appropriate action, pursuant with the authority provided by the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. 98a et seq.), to engage in activities that may include stockpiling, but shall also include research and development aspects for increasing the domestic supply of natural rubber.