Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., who unsuccessfully proposed a similar amendment restricting stock buybacks to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, argued that defense companies are prioritizing their own profits over research and development needed to power the defense industrial base:“Defense contractors that plow profits from public money into stock buybacks instead of research and development are ripping off the American people. The data is clear: These contractors have shrunk their investments into capital expenditures and research and development while jacking up their own stock buybacks and dividends. It would prevent defense contractors from issuing stock buybacks when they fail to invest properly in research, development, and their own infrastructure. The American military needs to be ready to defend our country and win any fight that comes our way, but corruption and corporate capture within the Defense Department are eroding that critical readiness. I am going to keep fighting to ban these swampy stock buybacks.”