Senate Defense Authorization Bill Language Strengthens Berry Amendment Compliance

Language inserted into the 2007 Senate Defense Authorization Bill Thursday would enhance our nation's defense and security while continuing to support the U.S. specialty metal industry, AIA President and CEO John Douglass said.

An amendment to the bill (S 2766) would pave the way for companies to fully comply with a law requiring that specialty metals like titanium used in products sold to the Defense Department are produced in the United States, Douglass said. Recent changes in enforcement of that law, called the Berry Amendment, resulted in delays in delivery of some military items, including aircraft.

Douglass noted the work of Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) and Ranking Member Carl Levin (D-Mich.) as well as Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and minority leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) on the matter.

"The amendment goes a long way toward resolving this technical matter and ensuring the men and women in our armed services have the equipment they need in the field," Douglass said.

Today the aerospace and defense industry buys 99 percent of specialty metals used in defense applications and 60 percent of specialty metals used in civil aviation from U.S. sources. The problem is almost totally relegated to small components like nuts and bolts that suppliers buy in bulk without documentation of their origin. In some cases a component worth less than $2 delayed delivery of a multi-million dollar product.

After the full Senate approves the authorization bill it will go to a conference with the House.

Text of the amendment added to the Senate Defense Authorization Bill is available at http://www.aia-aerospace.org/pdf/berry_proposal.pdf.

Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, materiel, and related components, equipment services, and information technology.