It’s a rare moment when a staunch progressive like Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finds herself echoing a core tenet of President Donald Trump’s agenda. Yet, on a critical issue of national security and taxpayer accountability, even the loudest voices on the left are acknowledging that Trump’s 'America First' approach is delivering tangible results for the nation.
Senator Warren, alongside conservative stalwart Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), has issued an incredibly rare credit to former President Trump for his decisive action in pressing defense companies. Their shared goal? To ensure that billions of taxpayer dollars are channeled into building essential weaponry and expanding production capacity, rather than simply enriching investors and corporate executives through stock buybacks.
Ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questions Kevin Warsh, nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve, during his Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The bipartisan duo pulls no punches: “The Pentagon is handing companies billions – and now potentially trillions – of taxpayer dollars,” the senators wrote. “Congress and the Administration must work together to ensure they fulfill their contractual obligations and enhance national security.” This candid assessment cuts right to the heart of the matter: American defense shouldn't be a profit-first scheme for corporate titans.
The push is centered around their proposed 'Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting Act.' This crucial legislation aims to make permanent the central provisions initially laid out in President Trump’s January executive order. Key among these provisions is linking executive incentives directly to on-time delivery and production improvements, fundamentally decoupling their compensation from short-term financial metrics that often incentivize corporate self-enrichment over national defense. Furthermore, the executive action empowers the Pentagon to cap base salaries for executives at underperforming contractors where the law permits – a common-sense measure for accountability.
And the numbers speak for themselves. After reviewing recent earnings calls and financial reports from the top 20 publicly traded U.S. defense contractors, staff for Warren and Lee discovered a significant shift. These companies collectively slashed buybacks and dividends by a staggering $2 billion in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the previous year. Crucially, during the same period, capital spending – the investment into long-term needs like factories, equipment, and new production lines – simultaneously rose by $1.2 billion. While not a direct one-to-one correlation, the trend clearly indicates Trump’s policy is steering defense firms back towards their core mission: building the arsenal America needs.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order at the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 2017. (REUTERS/Eric Thayer)
This welcome shift comes after years of unacceptable cost overruns and debilitating delays across major Pentagon weapons programs. All while defense contractors reported healthy profits and funneled billions back to shareholders, seemingly at the expense of military readiness. President Trump’s order directly tackles this by directing the Pentagon to identify underperforming contractors and restrict their stock buybacks and corporate distributions in future contracts during periods of failure.
Among the industry giants like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics, combined buybacks and dividends saw a substantial drop from $4.2 billion in Q1 2025 to approximately $2.7 billion in Q1 2026. This means a direct shift of $1.5 billion away from shareholder payouts and towards critical weapon production capacity. Of course, there are always outliers, with GE Aerospace increasing its buybacks, proving that vigilance is always required. But the overall trend is clear: America is finally seeing its defense dollars work for the warfighter, not just for Wall Street.
The proposed legislation, with its focus on accountability and prioritizing genuine defense capabilities, has already been included in the Senate’s version of the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. It’s a powerful testament to the common-sense, results-driven approach that President Trump brought to Washington. By demanding accountability from defense contractors and putting America’s security first, even his fiercest critics are compelled to acknowledge a win for the nation. This is how the America First movement delivers, ensuring our military is equipped and ready, and our taxpayer dollars are spent wisely to protect our freedoms and national interests.
