{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/westerman-cotton-and-boozman-driscoll-army-must-analyze-pine-bluffs", "WESTERMAN, COTTON, AND BOOZMAN TO DRISCOLL: ARMY MUST ANALYZE PINE BLUFF'S POTENTIAL TO ADDRESS OUR MUNITIONS SHORTAGE", "2025-05-28", "2025", "2025-05", "Republican", "House", "AR", "Bruce Westerman", "W000821", "westerman.house.gov", "westerman", "https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Congressman Bruce Westerman (AR-04) and Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and John Boozman (R-AR) today sent a letter to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, asking for the detailed plan for the future of Pine Bluff Arsenal as a critical element of the defense industrial base. The lawmakers also urged prompt delivery of a Congressionally-mandated report outlining a plan to address issues facing America\u2019s domestic munitions production and supply chain chokepoints, as well as a course of action for the future of Pine Bluff Arsenal. This letter follows another sent earlier this month about the Army\u2019s intent to downsize Pine Bluff Arsenal that is at odds with President Trump\u2019s agenda of accelerating munitions manufacturing in America.\n\nIn part, the lawmakers wrote:\n\n\u201cWe remain committed to ensuring, in line with President Trump\u2019s directive to the department, that the military has the munitions it needs to fight and win decisively. Fortunately, Pine Bluff Arsenal can help the Army solve the munitions crisis, hence we\u2019re not willing to allow its capabilities to wither on the vine.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nThe Honorable Dan P. Driscoll\n\nSecretary of the Army\n\n101 Army Pentagon\n\nWashington, DC 20310-0101\n\nSecretary Driscoll,\n\nWe write to establish next steps regarding the future of Pine Bluff Arsenal and to secure its crucial role in the defense industrial base. Please provide answers to the following inquiries no later than June 6, 2025.\n\nAs we discussed, we believe the Army\u2019s organic industrial base has an irreplaceable role to play in addressing this nation\u2019s munitions crisis. Our delegation has worked for years to persuade the Army to take steps to improve its arsenals, ammunition plants, and depots, including by re-orienting production at Pine Bluff Arsenal to address urgent military-munitions requirements.\n\nTo that end, we passed language in the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Joint Explanatory Statement that directed the Secretary of the Army to provide a plan to \u201cestablish secondary domestic production sources at existing arsenals, depots, and ammunition plants of the U.S. Army to address munition supply chain chokepoints\u201d no later than June 1, 2025. We expect the Army to produce this report in accordance with the law and provide a thorough, well-considered set of plans that explains how it should use Pine Bluff Arsenal and the other facilities within the Army\u2019s organic industrial base to meet urgent operational needs.\n\nFurthermore, we are justifiably concerned that Army is attempting to circumvent the law by slowing operations at the arsenal before the FY26 NDAA and appropriations season, thus presenting Congress with a virtual fait accompli and limiting our ability to perform our constitutional oversight and budgetary responsibilities. Title 10 USC \u00a7 2687, base closures and realignments, specifies the Army may not close any military installation of more than 300 civilians or reduce its personnel by more than 50 percent without notifying Congress and presenting it with detailed strategic and economic evaluations of the impact of such a downsizing or closure. Title 10 USC \u00a7 4532, the Arsenal Act, requires the Secretary of the Army to procure supplies in government-owned factories or arsenals if possible \u201con an economical basis.\u201d We expect, and insist, that the Army will comply with current statute when producing a path forward at Pine Bluff Arsenal.\n\nPlease note that we\u2019re particularly interested to understand your cost assumptions regarding your compliance with the Arsenal Act. As we have explained on multiple occasions, we believe ample evidence indicates that Pine Bluff Arsenal is more economical than most commercial options. Thus, we want to assess what assumptions the Army is using to argue otherwise.\n\nIn addition to the required report, we now request the following additional information:\n\n1. The Army\u2019s planned actions over the next 30 to 90 days at Pine Bluff Arsenal, to include proposed or enacted changes to staffing and production schedules. If no changes to Pine Bluff operations or personnel will occur, please definitively state that.\n\n2. The courses of actions the Army is developing for Pine Bluff Arsenal\u2019s future, with at least the following information:\n\nHow each course of action complies with both 10 USC \u00a7 2687 and 10 USC \u00a7 4532, to include detailed cost data analysis.\n\nAt least one course of action explaining how the Army could use the arsenal to produce materials such as nitrocellulose, RDX, or TNT to address supply chain chokepoints.\n\nDetailed estimates of the costs that will be incurred if Army moves the white phosphorus ammunition mission away from Pine Bluff Arsenal, including the cost and time associated with acquiring the necessary environmental permits.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/westerman-cotton-and-boozman-driscoll-army-must-analyze-pine-bluffs"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 5.141953006386757, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}