Graves Leads Call to Fully Fund Lake City Army Ammunition Plant

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06) led a letter urging House and Senate Defense Appropriations Committee Leaders to fully fund the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in the final appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022.  

“Cutting funding for the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant would be devastating not just for our communities, but our country.” said Graves. “It would cost hundreds of skilled craftsmen their good-paying jobs here in Missouri. They can’t be replaced by just anyone off the street. If we lose these folks to other industries, it’s going to make it extremely difficult to ramp production back up in the face of a crisis. That’s particularly concerning given escalating tensions around the globe.”

The Administration’s FY 2022 budget proposed cutting small arms manufacturing funding by 30 percent, which could cost an estimated 500-700 jobs at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri. Congressman Graves worked hard to make sure those cuts were reversed in the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act. However, the Defense Appropriations Bill for FY2022 still needs to fully fund the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant at authorized levels to ensure these jobs remain in Missouri and production capacity can be ramped up to respond to future crises.

The full letter can be found here or below.

February 2, 2022

Dear Chair Tester, Ranking Member Shelby, Chair McCollum, and Ranking Member Calvert,

As you continue discussions with the Senate on a final Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2022, we respectfully ask that you support the full amount authorized in S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 for the small caliber Army ammunition accounts.

The President’s fiscal year 2022 budget request includes a reduction to all the small arms ammunition accounts by about 30 percent, a roughly $56 million decrease across all accounts. This reduction will significantly impact our ground forces’ readiness, as well as their ability to train and fight. At a time of great uncertainty with our adversaries becoming increasingly emboldened, we must maintain strong funding for these accounts to avoid hindering production capability.

The Army’s production facility is at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) in Independence, Missouri. LCAAP produces small arms ammunition for all branches of the military and its workforce is made up of 1,700 highly skilled craftsmen, but the proposed budget request for FY22 could reduce this workforce by about 500 to 700 employees. Such reduction could cause the Army and defense industrial base to lose years of ammunition production expertise and it could take up to a year to rebuild this workforce. This would also be detrimental as the Army’s seeks to field the Next Generation Squad Weapon and its new ammunition, which will be produced at LCAAP.

The bipartisan passed FY22 NDAA included increased funding for 5.56MM, 7.62MM and .50 CAL ammunition. Specifically,

• $79.89 million for 5.56MM ammunition, a $32.4 million increase above the President’s Budget Request. (Account: Procurement of Ammunition, Army Small/Medium Cal Ammunition, CTG, 5.56MM, All Types)
• $101.926 million for 7.62MM ammunition, a $27.056 million increase above the President’s Budget Request. (Account: Procurement of Ammunition, Army Small/Medium Cal Ammunition, CTG, 7.62MM, All Types)
• $58.116 million for .50 CAL ammunition, a $28.4 million increase above the President’s Budget Request. (Account: Procurement of Ammunition, Army Small/Medium Cal Ammunition, CTG, .50 CAL, All Types)

To prevent disruptions to the warfighter’s readiness, avoid a loss of production capability and maintain a highly skilled workforce at LCAAP, we respectfully ask that the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees support the authorized funding levels in the FY22 NDAA signed into law by President Biden on December 27.

Thank you for all you do to support the readiness and strength of the warfighter. It is crucial that Congress ensure our servicemembers’ ability to train and fight by providing adequate funding for small arms ammunition and guarantee the protection of LCAAP’s production capabilities to provide this ammunition for the warfighter. We thank you for your attention to this important matter and look forward to working with you over the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

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