Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown visited U.S. weapon factories in Oklahoma and Arkansas on Thursday as the Pentagon frames the $95 billion aid package hanging in the balance on Capitol Hill as vital to Ukraine’s survival and critical to the U.S. economy.
Brown visited Lockheed Martin’s Camden, Arkansas, weapon facility and the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, Oklahoma, with lawmakers representing those factory workforces to address concerns over billions of dollars being sent overseas when there are many needs at home. Some lawmakers have already voted against the aid or indicated they will oppose it.
Brown traveled with Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, and Arkansas Republican Rep. Brad Westerman. He is scheduled to meet with Oklahoma Republican Rep. Josh Brecheen while at McAlester. Boozman, Mullin, and Westerman expressed optimism that the Ukraine supplemental bill will pass in Congress and emphasized the impact on local workforces.
Lockheed Martin’s Camden plant produces the HIMARS system and ATACMS missiles, while the McAlester plant produces Navy and Air Force bombs and 155mm munitions critical for Ukraine. The lawmakers have taken different approaches in support for Ukraine.
The $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Indo-Pacific allies passed the Senate, with Cotton, Lankford, and Mullin voting against it, while Boozman was in favor. The bill is now stalled in the House, opposed by hard-line Republicans like Brecheen, who recently joined Congress and called the legislation “disastrous.”
