WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is using his executive authority to force defense companies to quickly produce more weaponry as his administration presses lawmakers to pass additional defense spending to replenish stockpiles depleted during the U.S.-led war with Iran.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Trump quietly invoked the Defense Production Act last week to address rising concerns within his administration about the shortfall of munitions, according to a memo filed in the Federal Register on Tuesday.“I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs,” Trump wrote in a June 11 memo to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.Production constraints and supply chain concerns “may impair the ability of the United States to produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions, missiles, and equipment required for the national defense,” he wrote.Hegseth, meanwhile, was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday meeting with Senate Republicans about a $350 billion reconciliation package for additional Pentagon funding that the administration wants them to pass, specifically to replenish munitions.Sen.
John Cornyn (R-TX) said his meeting with Hegseth ”was primarily about funding for the department” and that the Pentagon is “running short of funding they need in order to acquire the weapons and missiles and things like that that they need to protect the nation.”The Defense Production Act is a 1950s-era law that gives the president a broad set of authorities to expand and expedite the supply of materials, including by ordering private companies to prioritize orders from the federal government.It also allows companies to collaborate in ways that could otherwise be seen as collusion or not competitive.It is often invoked to address an emergency, including a natural disaster, a terrorist attack or a pandemic, like COVID-19.Top adminis...