Warren Backs Trump’s Defense Buyback Crackdown

Elizabeth Warren is backing Trump’s defense buyback crackdown, a rare moment of praise from the Massachusetts Democrat as she and Senator Mike Lee press to make the policy permanent. The two senators want War Secretary Pete Hegseth to support legislation that would lock in the White House approach and push major defense contractors to spend more on production and less on shareholder payouts.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Warren and Lee said the Pentagon should help ensure contractors put taxpayer money toward weapons production, delivery and industrial capacity. They argued that companies taking billions of dollars from the government should meet their contractual obligations and strengthen national security. Their bill, the Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting Act, would codify parts of Trump’s January executive order, including linking executive incentives to on-time delivery and production gains instead of short-term financial targets.

The Trump order also gives the Pentagon authority, where permitted by law, to cap base salaries for executives at contractors that underperform. Warren and Lee said their review of earnings calls and financial reports from the top 20 publicly traded U.S. defense contractors showed a clear shift after the policy took effect. They found that buybacks and dividends fell by $2 billion in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, while capital spending rose by $1.2 billion.

That capital spending covers long-term investment such as factories, equipment and new production lines. The senators said the pattern suggests defense companies are facing more pressure to reinvest in capacity instead of returning cash to investors. They also said the changes support military readiness at a time when weapons programs have faced delays and cost overruns for years, even as contractors have continued to report strong profits and hand back billions to shareholders.