U.S. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness, delivered the following opening statement at a hearing on the current state of military readiness.
Rep. Waltz's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you to our witnesses for their time and participation in today's hearing to discuss the FY25 budget request for military readiness. There is a lot to discuss today and a whole host of issues to be addressed as it pertains to each Service's military readiness. Ongoing and potential conflicts across the globe stress the importance of ensuring our military forces are ready.
The total Department of Defense budget request for FY25 Operations and Maintenance is nearly $338 billion, the largest appropriation category. This funding pays for things like training, maintenance, and sustainment across the services. It's often overlooked or used as a pay-for, but this funding is critical to ensuring our military readiness. We have seen time and time again that sustainment of existing assets is disregarded for the procurement of new items. This has led to barracks in disrepair and ships that can't leave the docks. Military leaders must do better in the critical area of readiness and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on this topic.
This subcommittee has spent a lot of time, and will continue to do so, providing key oversight of the unsatisfactory state of our barracks. The condition of some of this housing is astounding. It no doubt affects retention. We must provide safe barracks and housing that puts our service members' welfare first. This is critical to readiness.
I remain frustrated with the readiness of our Naval fleet. Not only do we not have enough vessels in the inventory, but we can't adequately maintain the ones we have. Maintenance avails run long and cost more than projected. A healthy Naval fleet is the backbone of the Navy-Marine Corps team and critical to our ability to project power abroad. I'm interested to hear from the Navy on how they're working to overcome these issues.
