Pentagon To Seek Billions For Defense Contractors

The Hill reports:

The Pentagon will ask for billions of dollars in the next version of a stimulus package to help defense contractors hit by closures or other effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer said Monday.

“We’re taking billions and billions on that one,” Ellen Lord, under secretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment, said at a Pentagon briefing. Lord declined to get into more specifics on the number, saying it has yet to be worked out with the Office of Management and Budget.

Under the last coronavirus relief bill, known as the CARES Act, the Pentagon can reimburse contractors for delays and other added costs due to the pandemic. The main contractors being hit are in aviation and shipbuilders, said Lord, who also expressed concern about small space launch companies.