NDAA Excludes Right to Repair Language

On Dec. 17, the U.S. Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), sending it to President Trump for his signature. This followed its passage by the U.S. House of Representatives the prior week.

This is important for the equipment industry at large because the final bill did not include right to repair provisions that the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED), Schaumburg, Illinois, actively lobbied against. This represents a setback to those seeking to impose such mandates on products, including off-road equipment. AED members actively engaged lawmakers regarding the equipment industry’s concerns with language originally included in the House and Senate NDAAs passed by both the House and Senate, and it was a top priority during the AED Policy Conference and Advocacy Day in October.

“Thank you to equipment dealers and manufacturers for educating lawmakers about the impact misguided right to repair proposals have on the industry,” said AED President & CEO Brian P. McGuire. “This was not a time for the equipment industry to be passive. Ensuring that right to repair provisions were removed from the National Defense Authorization Act prevents off-road equipment from inclusion in legislation pertaining to military and weapons systems, and assists in our efforts to defeat similar proposals that apply directly to the products AED members distribute, service and manufacture.”

A letter from AED Senior Vice President, Government & External Affairs Daniel Fisher to the House Armed Services Committee, dated July 11, 2025, gave particulars when stating: “The amendment requires original equipment manufacturers to provide DOD with the same pricing, incentives, terms, and discounts provided to its authorized dealers, effectively denying a steady revenue stream for equipment dealers, which maintain extensive parts inventories to ensure repairs and maintenance can occur as soon as possible. Dealers would refrain from stocking parts, resulting in more machine downtime and increased costs, undermining a primary argument proponents use to support this proposal. Put simply, this would be an unprecedented intrusion into the off-road equipment marketplace without any relation to military readiness or cost-savings.”

Fisher’s letter detailed the membership’s role and requested the committee vote “no” on legislation that could have unintended consequences for the off-road equipment industry:

“AED members readily provide the diagnostic tools and parts necessary for equipment repair and maintenance, and applying “right to repair” mandates on our industry is unnecessary and detrimental to the equipment industry’s business model.

“We ask House Armed Services Committee members to vote “no” on currently circulating, overly broad “right to repair” amendments, which will have unintended consequences for businesses unrelated to weapons systems and military equipment.”