Bergman Opening Statement on Military Readiness Print of the FY26 NDAA
Washington, D.C.,
July 15, 2025
Tags:
Readiness
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Jack Bergman (R-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Readiness, delivered the following remarks on the Readiness Print at the full committee markup of the FY26 NDAA.
Rep. Bergman's opening statement as prepared for delivery: I arrived in Congress with the intent to place our military services in a position to win in any conflict chosen by our nation and to restore faith to our servicemembers and their families. I am particularly excited to see the Trump administration has a similar focus. This Readiness mark clearly accentuates the goals of this administration and breaks down the bureaucratic tendencies that slowly seep in and sap our warfighting capabilities. For example, this mark reinforces current readiness as the central tenant in preparing for conflict. With provisions that focus on Joint Strike Fighter maintenance reform, clarifying amphibious ship readiness goals and ensuring our forces have the right enablers to persevere in a lengthy conflict, these reforms are laser focused on ensuring our servicemembers have the right tools and capabilities. This mark also seeks to reestablish safety as a culture. I was particularly troubled by the Army Black Hawk collision with a commercial airliner earlier this year that took the lives of 67 personnel. We mandated command attention at all levels of Army aviation training including a safety mandate to insert collision alerts in Army training missions and to reform Army aviation training at the very basic level. This mark fundamentally reforms the military construction process that was reported to deliver construction at a price that costs taxpayers an additional 68% over similar commercial facilities. The mark tears up this bureaucracy, provides best commercial sector practices and, when coupled with the reforms incorporated in the One Big Beautiful Bill, will completely revolutionize our ability to provide cutting edge privatization practices to the warfighters. Finally, this mark seeks to keep trust with the junior servicemembers and their families. I understand that our servicemembers cannot operate effectively when they are concerned about how their families are responding to the quirks of military life. This mark places an emphasis on military family housing and continues a focus on environmental stewardship of forever chemicals. We will keep the faith. I could not have arrived with this mark without the support of my colleague, John Garamendi. He is a dedicated member that seeks military reform and keeps our servicemembers and their families as a laser focus. Thank you, John, for all of your support. I am reminded of a quote from General George Patton who was attributed to saying “the more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” I’m doing a lot of sweating today and will never stop in ensuring our servicemembers are unequaled in capability and capacity if ever called to bleed in conflict. Mr Chairman, this is a strong mark that sends a forceful signal of change and places our military on a secure footing to persevere in conflict. I thank the Chairman for yielding and urge all members to support this strong Readiness mark. |