Veto Threat Over "Buy American" Amendment Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he will recommend that President Bush veto the 2004 Defense Authorization bill unless new Buy American requirements are dropped. In a letter to the House-Senate conference committee that is now considering the bill, Rumsfeld said the provisions “could produce a damaging reduction in the DoD supplier base and cost the department and its U.S. contractors billions of dollars.” The House version of the bill, H.R. 1588, would require most major Defense purchases to contain at least 65% U.S. content, up from the present 50%. One of the sponsors, House Small Business Committee Chairman Donald Manzullo (R-IL), said his goal is to preserve the defense industrial base, which he said is struggling and losing jobs to overseas competitors. Suzanne Patrick, deputy undersecretary of Defense for industrial policy, told Manzullo he is operating on “inaccurate presumptions.” At a July 9 hearing, she said, “Despite the downturn in the U.S. economy, the defense industrial base in general is healthy, innovative and responsive.” In a policy statement, the Office of Management and Budget said the Buy American provisions “are burdensome, counterproductive, and have the potential to degrade U.S. military capabilities.” It also said the provisions “will unnecessarily restrict the Department of Defense’s ability to access non-U.S. state-of-the-art technologies and industrial capabilities.” Manzullo, whose district has been hard hit by manufacturing layoffs, said that is an admission that the United States is “no longer on the cutting edge of some critical technologies crucial to our national defense. “We have the most advanced military force in the world and we should have the ability to create the most advanced weapons on our own,” he said. Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) cosponsored the Buy American amendment. It would also require defense contractors to use American-made machine tools, dies and industrial molds. Some business groups have objected to the stricter Buy American requirements, saying the restrictions would disrupt their supplier networks. A similar 65% requirement would be imposed on State Department purchases under an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act passed by the House July 16. The amendment was sponsored by Manzullo and House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL).