Last week, Rep. Maggie Goodlander’s (NH-02) amendment to the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), backed by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03), passed the House Armed Services Committee on a bipartisan basis.
In May, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez urged the committee to include military right to repair provisions in the NDAA and secured the support of Chairman Mike Rogers (AL-03) – and she has been working since to ensure it is included in the legislation.
The amendment would require agencies to only enter procurement contracts if the contractor agrees to provide fair and reasonable access to repair materials, including parts, tools and information, to diagnose, maintain, or repair the equipment. This would ensure more servicemembers can repair more of their own equipment, increasing military readiness and cutting costs.
“Our military readiness and the safety of our servicemembers is dependent on warfighting equipment being reliable and quickly repairable. When military technicians are spending time on hold with manufacturers, shipping equipment overseas for simple fixes, or flying out authorized contractors – it’s not only time-consuming and costly – but they’re being deprived of experience working with their hands to fix equipment they rely on,” said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. “Thank you to Congresswoman Goodlander for fighting to pass this amendment and to the Armed Services Committee for its support. These changes will save our hard-earned tax dollars, strengthen military readiness, and honor the skill of our servicemembers with real respect.”
In May, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez expressed her support for a directive instructing the Secretary of the Army to seek to include right to repair provisions in all existing and new contracts.
Full text of the amendment can be found here.
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA) introduced the Servicemember Right-to-Repair Act in the 118th Congress, to increase military readiness and cut costs by allowing servicemembers to repair their own equipment.
The NDAA is an annual bill required for the authorization of expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense.