Defending Missouri Jobs and Our Military

Dear Friend,

I got word late last week that the Biden Administration was trying to force layoffs at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant again. They already tried to cut funding for the plant. This time, they were trying to ban the sale of some surplus ammunition made there.

In case you aren’t familiar, Lake City Army Ammunition Plant is located on roughly 4,000 acres in eastern Jackson County. It’s owned by the Army and operated by a private contractor. That’s the way it’s been since the plant was built during World War II. Some 1,700 highly-skilled union workers there make ammunition for the U.S. military and our allies.

When military orders drop, they make ammunition the contractor can sell on the civilian market. That allows the plant to remain fully staffed all the time. Without these commercial sales, every budget cut would force massive layoffs at the plant. That would devastate the local community and make it nearly impossible for the plant to ramp up production for our military as needed.

That’s why this ban would have been a terrible mistake. It would have severely degraded our military readiness. It would have caused major ammunition shortages. Most critically, it would have led to up to 500 highly-skilled union workers being laid off at the plant in eastern Jackson County.

I couldn’t let that happen. So, I raised the alarm, banded together with 49 of my colleagues, and wrote President Biden to demand he immediately end consideration of the ban. He listened. The Administration announced they were not pursuing a ban on the commercial sale of some types of 5.56 ammunition made at Lake City.

That was welcome news, but the statement the Administration made was concerning. They said “we will not let this plant close.” That’s odd, considering nobody was talking about closing the plant—until now.

Alone, such a slip-of-the-tongue could be excused, but this is the third time President Biden has tried to force massive layoffs at Lake City. He’s already cut funding for the plant twice in his budgets. Last year, I pushed back and got those cuts reversed. Right now, I’m working to overturn the cuts he proposed this year.

Clearly, the Biden Administration has it out for Lake City Army Ammunition Plant and the Missourians who work there. So far, I’ve stopped their plans at every turn. If they try anything else, I’m ready to stop them again.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves