The coronavirus relief funding provided by Congress is not enough to help the defense industrial base, and it could result in reduced readiness, Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told lawmakers this week.

She said Congress needs to appropriate “double-digit billions” of dollars in additional relief to contractors this year, Military.com reported.

“There’s a choice,” Lord said, “whether we want to eat into readiness and modernization… or whether we want to remedy the situation in the next six months or so.”

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act gave DOD $688 million to help contractors. Lord told the House Armed Services Committee that is not enough to support contractors and their employees hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

Lord said the department knows of 960 defense firms that closed at some point during the COVID-19 pandemic and that 101 of those will not re-open, according to USNI News.

DOD photo by Lisa Ferdinando