'What We Do Makes No Sense To Me': Navy Secretary Discusses 'Crazy' Rule With Elizabeth Warren

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At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) questioned Navy Secretary John Phelan about right-to-repair issues.

Transcript

00:00And we look forward to your suggestions about specifically how to deal with the

00:06paperwork issues, Mr. Secretary. Senator Warren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So for

00:12years, giant defense contractors have been sneaking fine print into contracts

00:18that prevent sailors and Marines from maintaining their own equipment. These

00:24restrictions increase costs, they hurt readiness, and they make a lot of money

00:29for the contractors. During your confirmation process, Secretary Phelan,

00:35you committed to, quote, explore how to best leverage right-to-repair and

00:40technical data rights within acquisition contracts to enable organic repair

00:46capacity. I wrote it down. So I want to make sure that that maintains as a

00:53priority. Marines in Okinawa, Japan, had to send back engines to

00:58contractors in the U.S. for repairs. A process that took months when the Marines

01:04could have done it themselves on site. But they had to do that because that is what

01:09the contract said. And when it's a ship, the United States government actually foots

01:16the bill to send the contractor out to sea. GAO found that travel costs to have a

01:22contractor complete repairs for one order on the USS Montgomery in Singapore would cost

01:30about 1.2 million dollars. That's just for the travel costs. So Secretary Phelan, would

01:37you agree that the Navy could be using those millions of dollars to train

01:41service members on the skills they need so they could fix their own equipment, rather

01:47than spending that money to fly contractors to provide tech support?

01:53Senator, thank you for the question. I know it's very important to you. What we do

01:59makes no sense to me. Okay. And so I am a huge supporter of right-to-repair. I went on

02:07the forward carrier. They had eight ovens. This is a ship that serves 15,300 meals a day.

02:16Only two were working. Six were out. And I said, you've got 5,300 people on the ship.

02:23You're telling me someone can't fix an oven? We got a lot of engineers. We can, but we

02:28need to wait for the contractor to get out. I asked the question about our

02:34elevators. If an elevator go out, what happens? We've got to call Huntington.

02:38They've got to call the four other people. They have to come out and diagnose the

02:43problem. And then they'll fix it. It is crazy. We should be able to fix this. And my other

02:49hot button, which I know is another one of yours in this committee's, is IP and our intellectual

02:55property rights. We end up paying for a lot of things that we don't control. And we need to change

03:01that. And so contracting in general is something we're looking at very hard. And we need to really

03:07try to ensure going forward we control our IP and we have the ability to fix things. Because if we're

03:13in a fight, how do we fix it then? You have this so right. The importance not only of doing it on a

03:21day-by-day-by-day basis, but you need all of that muscle memory of how to fix things in case you're under

03:28much more adverse circumstances and don't have time to let something lie there unused while you try

03:35to fly in somebody from halfway around the world. So let me just make sure I've got you on the record

03:40here. Do you agree that the Navy needs to negotiate for comprehensive repair rights so that contractors

03:48cannot find shady ways both to insist on their ability to do the repairs, but also to keep the

03:57data that you need away from you so that you can't do it yourself?

04:03Senator, I agree we need to repair, I have the right to repair our ships. How we specifically go

04:09about that I need to look at and understand better. But trust me, you and I are simpatico on this.

04:14Okay, and then I will ask you while we're being so simpatico here, let me ask you one more.

04:19Do you support Congress passing a law that will help you negotiate repair rights at a fair and

04:27reasonable price? Yes, I do. Okay, I really do appreciate this. You know, and so do 70 percent

04:33of voters according to recent polling. And this is why Senator Sheehy and I are introducing the Warrior

04:40Right to Repair Act to make sure that every service follows the Army's lead of securing repair rights

04:49and requiring contractors to offer those rights at fair and reasonable prices. This is an opportunity

04:56to stand up for our sailors and marines as well as for the taxpayers. And I look forward to working

05:03with you. I know that Senator Sheehy does as well. And we want to work with all of our colleagues to

05:09make sure that our service members have the tools they need to be able to repair their own equipment.

05:15Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator Warren. Secretary Phelan,

05:19have you had a chance or has your team had a chance to look at the specifics of the language of

05:26of the Warren Sheehy bill that has been referred to? I have not, Senator. Okay. Will you please do

05:34that and comment about the specifics on the record? It would be very helpful to us. Absolutely. Thank

05:42you. And I look forward to working with my two colleagues on a workable solution, particularly

05:49since the secretary is so supportive of that concept.

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