U.S. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness, delivered the following opening statement at the full committee markup for H.R. 8070, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25).
Rep. Waltz's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to commend our Members for their efforts and support in putting together this subcommittee print in a bipartisan fashion.
A special thank you to my friend, Ranking Member Garamendi, for his partnership.
I want to emphasize the importance of appropriately funding the readiness accounts. No longer can we jeopardize current and future readiness by underfunding maintenance, sustainment, and training.
Quality of life for our service members is paramount. The Readiness subcommittee included more than $1.1 billion for quality of life initiatives.
The condition of our barracks is shocking. We must provide safe barracks and housing that puts our service members' welfare first. This print does exactly that.
I thank my colleagues for the work done on the Quality of Life Panel. Based on their hard work and the continued oversight of the Readiness subcommittee, we included several provisions to address the poor conditions at unaccompanied housing facilities and operational facilities that impact readiness.
To improve barracks and aging infrastructure, transparency of Facilities, Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization (FSRM) execution is key. The subcommittee required that each Military Department implement an electronic management system to track how FSRM funds are spent and keep current records of facility conditions. With more granularity in this data, and oversight from this committee, the Military Departments will be forced to adequately budget and plan for facility upkeep.
Furthermore, this print provides necessary oversight of the global household goods contract. I remain concerned about a single point of failure in the new contract and emphasize that oversight from both TRANSCOM and Congress, provided in this print, is an important part of implementation.
Lastly, this print mandates the Department of Defense eliminate reliance on Russian energy for all installations within European Command.
I would like to thank the efforts of our great support staff, both on the committee and in my personal office. Today's markup would not be possible without the help from this team.
Thank you to our Members and staff for their diligent work thus far. I look forward to continuing to work together to ensure Readiness equities are represented throughout the NDAA process.
