Today, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, ahead of a joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces titled, "F-35 Program Update: Sustainment, Production, and Affordability Challenges.""Thank you Chairman Garamendi, I truly appreciate the opportunity to conduct th... Read More »
Today, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air And Land Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, ahead of a joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Readiness titled "F-35 Program Update: Sustainment, Production, and Affordability Challenges." "As the Chairman mentioned this hearing continues the committee's ongoing ove... Read More »
Today, the Dallas Morning News featured a column by Ranking Member Thornberry in which he once again raised the alarm about the dangers of a full-year Continuing Resolution. You can read excerpts below:Every day under a CR damages our military and undermines the recent fragile progress of repairing and rebuilding it. If Congress and the White House do not change course soon, I am deeply concerned ... Read More »
Reps Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Kay Granger (R-TX) and Steve Womack (R-AR), Republican leaders of the House Armed Services, Appropriations, and Budget Committees respectively, issued a stark warning to their colleagues today on the damage a full-year continuing resolution would do to America's military. That damage is detailed in a fact sheet that accompanies their warning. "Across the political spect... Read More »
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Co-Chairman of the Committee's bi-partisan Defense Innovation Task Force made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, ahead of a hearing titled "Theories of Victory: Innovation and National Security":"Thank you, Seth."I would like to start by thanking Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Thornberry for establishing this bi-partisan Future of Defense Task Force. We have... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: "Killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is an important achievement in the fight against ISIS. I am grateful to our men and women in uniform, our intelligence professionals, and our allies who contributed to this success. We have robbed ISIS of thei... Read More »
Today, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, ahead of a hearing titled "Ship and Submarine Maintenance: Cost and Schedule Challenges.""Thank you, Chairman Garamendi. We had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Geurts and Admiral Moore last week to discuss this important issue and I loo... Read More »
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) announced the official activation of the Future of Defense Task Force.The bipartisan Future of Defense Task Force is chartered to review U.S. defense assets and capabilities and assess the state of the national security innovation base to meet emerging threats. The Task Force is co-chaired by R... Read More »
Today, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, ahead of a joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities titled "Resiliency of Military Installations to Emerging Threats." "Thank you Chairman Langevin, Chairman Garamendi, and Rep. Stefanik for sch... Read More »
Today, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, before the Subcommittee's joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Readiness titled, "Resiliency of Military Installations to Emerging Threats.""Thank you, Jim. "I would like to start by thanking Chairmen ... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on US policy in Syria: "It would be a grave mistake for Turkey to send its military forces into Syria provoking hostilities with the Syrian Democratic Forces. It would also be a grave mistake for the U.S. to unilaterally withdraw from Syria or to acquiesce in any way to a Turkish invasion... Read More »
Today, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made the following remarks on the Subcommittee's hearing titled "Status of the B61-12 Life Extension and W88 Alteration -370 Programs""Thank you, Mr. Chairman."I'd like to thank all the witnesses for being here today, you were here back in March and April. I appreciate you stopping in to gi... Read More »
An approaching deadline of October 1 will help signal whether the Department of Defense is serious about reducing inefficiency in defense agencies known as the Fourth Estate. Reforms mandated by Congress in the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act require DOD to achieve 25% savings from civilian management, logistics management, services contracting, and real estate management. The Department i... Read More »
A recent CRS report found that "DOD has started the fiscal year under a CR for 13 of the past 18 years and every year since FY2010 excluding FY2019. The amount of time DOD has operated under CR authorities during the fiscal year has tended to increase in the past 10 years and equates to a total of more than 39 months since 2010." That means that cumulatively, DOD has spent more than three of the p... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the proposed Continuing Resolution to fund the military through November."The budget deal we reached earlier this year was intended to give our military stable and predictable funding. While the deal did not provide all the funding I believe our military needs, it made up for it with t... Read More »
