Hawley, Warren team up to back up Trump, crack down on defense contractor payouts

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: An unlikely bipartisan duo is teaming up to force defense contractors to prioritize military readiness over shareholder value. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Elizabeth Warren , D-Mass., introduced legislation that would require major defense contractors to prioritize delivering weapons by fulfilling their contracts fueled by taxpayer dollars over rewarding shareholders, with stiffer guardrails and oversight on the companies. Their bill, Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting Act of 2026, would restrict stock buybacks, dividends and high executive pay unless companies meet Pentagon performance standards in their contracts. TRUMP OVERHAULS US ARMS SALES TO FAVOR KEY ALLIES, PROTECT AMERICAN WEAPONS PRODUCTION "America’s defense contractors should be focused on expanding production, not padding their bottom lines," Hawley said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "But even as they make record profits, some firms have spent big on stock buybacks, dividend payouts and exorbitant executive salaries." The lawmakers argued that for several years, defense contractors have struggled to deliver weapons systems on time, on budget or in sufficient quantities for the military, and instead dumped the eye-popping sums of taxpayer money flowing to them into their own coffers, rather than invest in research and development that could speed up the process. They pointed to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published last year that found that defense acquisition programs were plagued by delays and cost overruns, with delays for major programs increasing "by 18 months" in just the last year, with combined cost estimates creeping over $49 billion during the same period. TRUMP-BACKED AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERHAUL CLEARS SENATE, WHILE HOUSE GOP RAISES RED FLAGS Since 2021, the top four defense contractors — Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Boeing — have increased spending and spent $89 billion on stock buybacks and dividends. Two-thirds of…