Allow the Secretary of Defense to write off depreciation costs or internal debt for Department of War depots and arsenals when charges are tied to capital assets that no longer generate revenue because of a mission change, while requiring cash outlays to be recovered first and excluding payments owed to commercial contractors.

Michael Cloud · Texas · Republican

policy impact 0.58 specificity 0.90 extraction confidence 86%

Commitment kind: unknown. Promised action: not established. Promised outcome: not established. Deadline: unknown; not assumed expired.

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Occurrences

Key provisions of the DEPOTS Act include: Allow the Secretary of Defense to write off depreciation costs or internal debt on DoW’s books when the charges are linked to capital assets that no longer generate revenue, due to a change in mission. Require cash outlays to be recovered first. Allow the Secretary of Defense to delegate this authority down to the secretaries of the individual military departments: Army, Navy, Air Force. Does not apply to payments owed to commercial contractors.

Cloud introduced the DEPOTS Act to give the Defense Department authority to clear certain depot and arsenal internal accounting charges caused by mission changes, with limits and delegation authority.

RELEASE: Congressman Michael Cloud and Senator Cornyn Introduce Two Companion Bills: The DEPOTS Act and Depot Data Transparency Act
primary · press_release · model gpt-5.5

Evidence

legacy_unverified · Source version not recorded · locator unknown

GovInfo lists H.R. 10046 as introduced by Michael Cloud on August 6, 2026 and referred to House Armed Services. The bill text matches the write-off authority, revolving-fund recovery, and contractor-payment exclusion.

Unverified model/legacy excerpt; not proof. AI summary (separate from source): Cloud introduced standalone DEPOTS Act legislation containing the promised policy, but the listed action is only introduction/referral, not enactment.

unresolved same_term A for effort

H.R. 10046 (IH) - Defense Expenditure Planning for Optimizing Throughput and Sustainment Act
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 94%

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legacy_unverified · Source version not recorded · locator unknown

The joint explanatory statement says the House bill had the depot-and-arsenal capital write-off provision, but the final agreement did not include it.

Unverified model/legacy excerpt; not proof. AI summary (separate from source): A prior House-passed NDAA attempt failed in conference, so the policy was not delivered through the FY2026 NDAA despite concrete legislative action.

never same_term A for effort

Congressional Record: Joint explanatory statement for National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
secondary · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 93%

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Assessments

Public state: unverified As of unknown · legacy_unverified · . Original AI recommendation (not independently established): never. same_term A for effort

Cloud materially advanced the policy by introducing H.R. 10046, the DEPOTS Act, in the 119th Congress, and the text matches the promised depreciation/internal-debt write-off authority with the stated limits. But the bill was only introduced and referred to committee, and a prior House NDAA version containing the provision was excluded from the final agreement. Because the promised authority has not been enacted or implemented, this is a failed but serious same-term legislative attempt, not delivery.

provider codex_cli · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 90%