Opening Statements

Today, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing titled "Department of the Navy Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request for Seapower and Projection Forces."

"I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank Secretary Geurts, Vice Admiral Merz and Lieutenant General Berger for participating in this posture hearing.

"I spoke at our last subcommittee hearing about our new National Defense Strategy and our defense policy pivot that accentuates great powers competition. I think this new strategy has been a long time coming, and I am glad to see that we have acknowledged this strategic race. However, we also must acknowledge the nature of warfare and our nation's expectation that we will not fight a future conflict in our homeland or near our coastline. Rather, our citizens expect us to project power to distant shores and bring the conflict to the shores of our enemies. This future conflict will not be like the conflicts of the past where we had time to amass forces at our will and choose the time and place of our intervention. Future conflict will rapidly escalate and involve the forces that are already forward based. This rapid escalation will include some additional forces located in the United States that are rapidly able to surge forward in a very short timeframe. It will require a prompt strike capability to include cyber, space, and electromagnetic spectrums. In essence, forces that take time to generate may be necessary to support our national security, but they do not support great powers competition or our national strategy. Fast, lethal, and forward deployed are watch words that we should use to grade the entirety of the defense budget request.

"To this end, I think the administration has done a good job in forwarding this defense strategy of great powers competition with the new budget request. The budget strategy acknowledges that submarines are essential to early conflict and includes a request for a third Virginia-class attack submarine. The budget supports an expansion of our forward deployed forces to include the rapid attainment of the 355 ship Navy by 2034. Moreover, the budget makes efficient use of our industrial base to accomplish our strategic objectives by including a third destroyer and continued support for a two-carrier block contract that will save almost four billion dollars.

"However, this budget request is not without fault nor does it measure entirely well against my watch words of fast, lethal, and forward deployed. I think there are two principal issues that I find particularly wanton to include a recommendation to retire the USS Truman (CVN 75) a full twenty-five years before the end of its service life and the continued lack of resources to support of our surge sealift requirements.

"As to aircraft carriers, Navy has assessed, and the joint staff has validated, that our nation needs twelve aircraft carriers with the capability to deploy five aircraft carriers in the timeframes necessary to deter aggression and meet great power competitors. That is why I am perplexed with the budget recommendation to retire the USS Truman early. Combatant commanders have been unanimous in their assessment that they do not receive enough aircraft carriers in peacetime and Navy has indicated that the existing force structure is insufficient to deliver power in times of conflict. This short sighted, budget driven recommendation provides us a false choice between Navy priorities. The reality of future conflict requires that we retain and modernize this essential piece of our naval architecture.

"As to our surge sealift, the budget request continues to support an antiquated surge sealift force whose average age today is 44 years. It is great to have a lethal Army and Marine Corps, garrisoned in the United States. However, if they can't get to the future conflict in the right timeframe, so what? It is not surprising that our Commander, U.S. Transportation Command, General Lyons has as his number one priority is this important force structure. There is no doubt that we need to rapidly modernize this decrepit surge sealift force structure.

"In the end, I think that budget request is a good step toward delivering the capabilities associated with our new national defense strategy. Yes, we have a number of issues that need to be addressed in this budget request and, with the Chairman's support, I think that we will better shape the administration's request to make our military more fast, lethal, and forward deployed.

"I thank the Chairman for organizing this important hearing and I yield the balance of my time."