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 »
Today, Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing on domestic violence in the military:"Thank you, Chairwoman Speier."I wish to welcome both of our panels to today's hearing. I particularly want to thank the three survivors of domestic abuse for your brav... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, congratulates the following Republican members of the Committee who have been named by House Leadership to serve on the House-Senate Conference Committee to resolve the differences in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.The following Republican Members of the House Armed Services Committee were na... 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 Oversight and Reform Committee on "Securing the Nation's Internet Architecture.""Thank you, Jim. "I want to start by thanking both Chairman Langevin and C... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee made the following statement on the diversion of military construction funds for border security: "We continue to face a very real crisis at the southern border. I regret that the President has been forced to divert funding for our troops to address the crisis. His initial requests to secure the border were not unreas... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee today echoed Secretary Esper's call on Congress to pass the FY20 NDAA and Defense Appropriations before the end of the Fiscal Year. "Our troops have been held hostage to protracted political fights for too long. Those fights, and the inadequate budgets they produced, contributed to a readiness crisis we are only now b... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following statement on the budget deal reached between Congressional Leadership and the White House: "Three years ago, America's military was hobbled by a readiness crisis that left all of us less safe. Too few planes could fly, too few ships could sail, and too few troops were ready to deploy. Asking our ... Read More »
Concluding three days of debate, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made his closing argument on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020:"Madam Chair, let me start in a similar way that I started two days ago and that is to express my appreciation to the staff who has done a terrific job of wading through a ton of issues, a lot of ... Read More »
Ahead of anticipated floor consideration this week, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following remarks on HR 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020: "Normally the NDAA is a product of bipartisan consensus that allows Congress to execute our most important Constitutional duty. Unfortunately, partisan provisions in ... Read More »
THORNBERRY ON ACTING SECRETARY SHANAHAN Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following remarks on the withdrawal of Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan's nomination, the appointment of Mark Esper, Secretary of the Army, as Acting Secretary of Defense, and the urgent need to have a permanent Secretary of Defense nominated and confirmed by t... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, made the following remarks on HR 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020: "This year's National Defense Authorization Act is an opportunity to maintain the momentum we need to rebuild our military, reform its broken acquisition system, and meet our commitment to our men and women in uniform.... Read More »
At the markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Democrats will have an opportunity to support an amendment offered by Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-TX) that would follow through with the recommendations of two Secretaries of Defense, senior military leadership, and the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission to provide 3-5% real growth in the defense budget. Read more ab... Read More »
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, today released an amendment he intends to offer during the Committee's consideration of HR 2500, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. Congressman Thornberry's amendment will authorize funding for programs requested in the President's Budget or by the Services, that are critical to national sec... Read More »
