Opening Remarks of Chairman Wittman

SUBCOMMITTEE ON READINESS

Washington, DC, March 17, 2016
Tags: Readiness
WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Robert Wittman (R-VA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks on the hearing titled “The Department of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2017 Operations and Maintenance Budget Request and Readiness Posture.” For testimony and to watch the hearing click here.

Today, Rep. Robert Wittman (R-VA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, made the following remarks on the hearing titled “The Department of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2017 Operations and Maintenance Budget Request and Readiness Posture.” For testimony and to watch the hearing click here.

"Thank you all for being here today for our Readiness subcommittee hearing on the Navy’s 2017 Operations and Maintenance Budget Request and Readiness Posture. This is the final hearings of four on the services’ budget requests and readiness postures. This week, Admiral Howard, you testified that before the Senate Armed Services Committee that 'Sequestration is the greatest threat to our future readiness, it has a ripple effect for us through the years.' Today, I look forward to hearing how the Navy’s budget request enables a readiness recovery plan and where we continue to take risks; calculated in terms of both risk to the force and risk to the mission.

I would like to welcome all of our members and the distinguished panel of senior Navy leaders present today.

This morning we have with us:

• Admiral Michelle J. Howard, USN
Vice Chief of Naval Operations

• Vice Admiral John C. Aquilino, USN
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy

• Vice Admiral Philip H. Cullom, USN
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics

Thank you all for testifying today and we look forward to your thoughts and insights on these important issues.

The purpose of this hearing is to clarify the Navy’s choices for its budget requests, to address funding priorities and mitigation strategies, and to gather more detail on the current and future impacts of these decisions on operations, maintenance, training, and modernization. Most importantly, does the Navy have the resources it requires in order to improve its state of readiness? Once again, I want to thank our witnesses for participating in our hearing this morning and I look forward to discussing these important topics."