{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2026/8/lee-warren-urge-pentagon-to-codify-trump-s-successful-eo-to-cut-defense-waste-boost-efficiency", "Lee, Warren Urge Pentagon to Codify Trump\u2019s Successful EO to Cut Defense Waste, Boost Efficiency", "2026-08-11", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", "mikelee", "https://www.lee.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) published a bipartisan analysis revealing the success of President Trump\u2019s executive order to cut wasteful government spending and boost America\u2019s national security by limiting individual defense contractors\u2019 stock buybacks in response to how efficiently they deliver on their contracts with the federal government. The senators urged Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to codify this progress into law by supporting their bipartisan Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting Act. The legislation will make permanent President Trump\u2019s plan to boost efficiency and competition within defense contracting.\n\n\u201cThe Pentagon is handing companies billions \u2013 and now potentially trillions \u2013 of taxpayer dollars,\u201d wrote the senators. \u201cCongress and the Administration must work together to ensure they fulfill their contractual obligations and enhance national security.\u201d\n\nFor decades, defense contractors have consistently fallen short in delivering weapons programs to DoW on time and on budget. In January, President Trump issued an executive order to address this problem, restricting executive pay packages and limiting stock buybacks and dividend payments for defense contractors that don\u2019t meet DoW\u2019s performance needs and fail to invest in expanding their production capacity.\n\nA new review of the top 20 defense industry\u2019s latest earnings calls and financial reports, conducted by the offices of Senators Lee and Warren, reveals that the DoW\u2019s signal for accountability is already generating a positive response \u2014 and underscores the need for legislation to make the progress permanent.\n\nIn the six months since President Trump issued his executive order, each of the four largest defense contractors that engaged in stock buybacks and dividend payouts in the first quarter of 2025 cut them dramatically in the first quarter of 2026. Combined, these four companies \u2014 Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics \u2014 spent $4.2 billion on buybacks and dividends in Q1 2025; during the same quarter this year, they spent only $2.7 billion, a roughly 36 percent drop.\n\nThese defense contractors continued to report a strong financial outlook for their shareholders, making clear that this reduction in buybacks did not pose any harm to the companies\u2019 underlying business fundamentals.\n\nDespite the executive order \u2014 and the success it had in restricting buybacks by the big four contractors \u2014 other contractors continued to hand out larger stock buybacks and dividends to shareholders while the companies\u2019 capital expenditures declined. For example, GE Aerospace spent $2.3 billion on stock buybacks in Q1 2026, a 21% increase from the $1.9 billion it spent on stock buybacks in Q1 2025.\n\n\u201cThese contractors who did not respond to the President\u2019s executive order reveal the need for legislation that emboldens the Department to enforce accountability,\u201d wrote the senators.\n\n\u201cThe latest round of financial reports from defense contractors shows that despite their concerns, defense contractors can afford to prioritize the warfighter and increase investments to improve outcomes and address schedule delays and cost overruns plaguing the Pentagon\u2019s weapons systems,\u201d wrote the senators.\n\n\u201cGiven the findings of our review, we urge your support for codifying the President\u2019s executive order into law and ensuring that the order has lasting results,\u201d concluded the senators.\n\nRead exclusive coverage by Fox News here.\n\nRead the full text of the letter here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-12T06:18:38Z", "2026-08-12T06:20:33Z"]], "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://www.lee.senate.gov/2026/8/lee-warren-urge-pentagon-to-codify-trump-s-successful-eo-to-cut-defense-waste-boost-efficiency"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7199370302259922, "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"}