To direct the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, to carry out a review of the list of defense articles and services required to be transferred under the foreign military sales program as opposed to direct commercial sale (FMS-Only List).
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseMrs. Biggs of South Carolina (for herself, Mr. Zinke, Mr. …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended
Made-in-America Defense Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Made-in-America Defense Act requires the State Department and Defense Department to conduct annual reviews of weapons and military equipment that can currently only be sold to foreign allies through the government-run Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The goal is to identify items that could also be sold directly by U.S. defense companies to foreign militaries without going through the slower government process. The agencies must report their findings to Congress each year, including how long transfers take under each method and whether allowing direct commercial sales would benefit U.S. national security and competitiveness.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. defense contractors and manufacturers benefit from this bill because it creates a pathway for them to sell weapons and military equipment directly to foreign buyers instead of going through the time-consuming government Foreign Military Sales process. If items are moved off the "FMS-Only List," companies can establish direct commercial relationships with foreign militaries, potentially increasing sales and reducing bureaucratic delays that can make U.S. products less competitive against foreign competitors.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of State and Department of Defense bear new administrative burdens through the annual review and reporting requirements. Staff at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency must conduct comprehensive reviews comparing transfer times, analyze workload impacts, assess national security benefits, track which items are added or removed from the FMS-Only List, and submit detailed reports to four congressional committees every year. This represents a significant ongoing compliance obligation for agencies that already manage complex arms export processes.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a mandatory annual review process starting within one year of enactment to evaluate all defense articles and services on the FMS-Only List
- Requires detailed comparative analysis of transfer times between FMS and direct commercial sales, measured from initial request to final delivery
- Mandates reporting on how allowing direct commercial sales would impact agency workloads, U.S. national security, and U.S. defense industry competitiveness
- Creates ongoing congressional oversight through required submissions to the House and Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs/Foreign Relations committees
- Allows reports to include classified annexes while requiring the main body to be unclassified
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires annual review and reporting on defense articles/services currently restricted to Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to identify items that should also be eligible for Direct Commercial Sales (DCS)
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Streamline defense article transfers to allies and partners by identifying items that can be moved from the slower FMS process to faster Direct Commercial Sales, reducing bureaucratic delays while maintaining oversight"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Defense contractors and manufacturers who can sell directly to foreign buyers instead of going through government FMS channels
- Foreign allies and partners who would receive defense articles faster through DCS
- U.S. defense industry competitiveness in global markets
Likely Burden Bearers
- Department of State and Department of Defense bureaucracies that must conduct annual reviews and reports
- Congressional committees that must review reports
- Potentially: oversight and control mechanisms if items are moved from FMS to DCS
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of State
- "the_secretary_of_state"
- → Secretary of State
- "the_secretary_of_defense"
- → Secretary of Defense
- "appropriate_congressional_committees"
- → Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Armed Services (House); Committee on Foreign Relations and Committee on Armed Services (Senate)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives; and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate
The list maintained by the Secretary of State of defense articles and defense services that are eligible to be provided under the foreign military sales program under chapter 2 of the Arms Export Control Act, but not eligible to be provided under direct commercial sales under section 38 of such Act
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology