WASHINGTON — Three members of Arkansas' congressional delegation continue their efforts to protect a U.S. Army military installation in Jefferson County, arguing the military's private sector partners cannot meet the facility's contribution to the munitions supply chain.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, visited the Pine Bluff Arsenal with Army officials on Monday to convey the installation's importance in producing white phosphorous munitions, during which the congressman stressed these weapons cannot currently be produced by other United States facilities.

On Capitol Hill, Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pushed defense officials Wednesday about supporting facilities within the Pentagon's organic industrial base and not relying on options outside of this network.

"Really, the Army should be looking at how they move operations into the Pine Bluff Arsenal rather than taking operations from the Pine Bluff Arsenal," Westerman told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal consists of more than 660 buildings across 13,500 acres in Jefferson County. The installation is the only North American facility able to fill white phosphorus munitions, which are capable of producing smoke.

Boozman, Cotton and Westerman have raised concerns about the Pine Bluff Arsenal's future as the Army continues to implement its Army Transformation Initiative; the campaign prioritizes examining options for creating what Army officials have described as a "leaner, more lethal force."

Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo in late April suggesting, in part, the option of consolidating operations between some military installations and pursuing leasing opportunities with private sector entities "seeking to expand into the Defense Industrial Base."

Boozman, Cotton and Westerman sent a letter to Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll on May 15 cautioning against any attempt to downsize the Pine Bluff Arsenal, contending the Army "needs to use fully the resources it already owns" rather than seek private sector partners to meet munitions needs.

"Pine Bluff Arsenal is a solution for these challenges, not some redundant or outdated relic," the three lawmakers wrote. "While it's true that the arsenal is under-used, that's because the Army bureaucracy has repeatedly resisted our proposals to expand its operations."

In a subsequent May 28 letter, the three lawmakers warned Driscoll about any attempt to circumvent federal law by slowing down the arsenal's operations.

"We're not sure where some of these original plans came from," Westerman said Wednesday

Cotton, of Little Rock, pressed Driscoll earlier this month during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about Pine Bluff Arsenal's future, during which Driscoll contended a leading reason for the Army not utilizing its own installations involves costs within these facilities.

"Generally speaking, there are so many constraints on us that when we try to work within our budget to expand our munitions supplies and we look at the math, the math oftentimes says we're too expensive for ourselves," Driscoll told Cotton.

Cotton relayed the committee's interest in studying costs with the Army's installations and working with the Defense Department on meeting munitions needs, emphasizing "some of which is going to have to come from our organic industrial base."

"They make things there that's not made anywhere else," Westerman said of the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

Westerman said his Pine Bluff Arsenal tour with Army officials prioritized the installation's unique position with white phosphorous munitions, as well as its unrealized capabilities. The Hot Springs congressman said the Army had a "misunderstanding" about the arsenal and its importance in munitions production.

"It would be very difficult and very expensive to move some of those operations to another facility, not to mention how long it could possibly take to get a permit to do work with stuff like white phosphorous," the congressman mentioned.

As Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Daniel Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, fielded questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Cotton told both men that the Pentagon should consider its own facilities as options for boosting munitions production.

"Private industry is very important, but you have your own organic industrial base," the senator said.

Hegseth agreed with Cotton about considering "every possible source" to improve the nation's munitions supply chain. Caine said the Army should utilize its facilities network to boost weapons supplies.

Driscoll and Gen. Randy George, the Army's chief of staff, appeared before Senate appropriators to discuss the Army's proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Boozman, of Rogers, is a senior Senate appropriator; he leads the subcommittee handling matters involving military construction and veterans issues.

"Current events have made one thing clear," Boozman said. "The commercial industrial base alone cannot meet our munitions demands."

At Boozman's request, Driscoll promised to work with the senator's office and other appropriators on modernizing munitions production at Army facilities.

"There are probably a couple of threats that if we don't figure out how to get scalable solutions together, we are going to put our Army in a bad position," Driscoll told Boozman. "That is absolutely one of them."

Westerman is not sure when the Army will make a final decision regarding Pine Bluff Arsenal's future. The congressman's focus now, he said, is educating Army and military officials about the installation's importance.

"There's not an acceptable time for them to be taking some of these functions away from Pine Bluff Arsenal," Westerman said. "I think the senators feel pretty much the same as I do and, again, that the Army should be looking at doing more stuff at the arsenal."

Click here to read this story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.