January 2005 -- The Defense Authorization (DA) Bill, which includes the Berry Amendment, was signed by President George W. Bush on Oct. 21, 2004.
There was a move in this year?s DA bill to include defense trade reciprocity and waiver authority language. Procurement of items that are grown, reprocessed, reused, produced or manufactured in foreign countries could have been allowed, thus reducing the effectiveness of the Berry Amendment.
The Berry Amendment was originally created to guarantee a U.S. industrial base to supply the U.S. military with various items during times of war. One of those items is the procurement of wool for military uniforms.
However, at the last moment both sections of additional language were struck. The final bill signed by the President continues to uphold the Berry Amendment for another year.
The military currently purchases approximately 25 percent of the U.S. wool clip.