Press Releases

House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman (VA-1) applauded the passage of legislative language today considered by the Subcommittee as part of H.R. 4435, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015. The House Armed Services will consider the full legislation next week on Wednesday, May 7, 2014.

“As Chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, my priority is to ensure that every Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine in our force has the best training and equipment they need so they never enter a fair fight. Our all-volunteer force must have overwhelming superiority on the battlefield,” Wittman said. “With cut after cut in defense spending, every dollar counts, and this mark passed today reflects careful consideration of priorities, resources, and needs. It is our Constitutional duty to provide, build, and maintain a professional  and ready fighting force. We have the greatest military the world has ever known because of the men and women who serve in our Department of Defense. They are the best and the brightest we have in this nation and they deserve our best when it comes to resourcing and funding their readiness and training.”

The language in the Readiness mark addresses many issues of concern for depleted force readiness levels and related high levels of assumed risk as a result of repeated national security resources cuts. While some progress has been made in restoring resources, restoring readiness will take longer. The Readiness proposal makes careful investments to improve readiness and reduce risk, guards against unwise expenditures or other actions that erode long term force posture, and protects against unintentional impacts on operations and Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines.

The Readiness proposal makes investments:

• Supporting operations, training, depot maintenance, and flying hour programs across the services;

• Ensures our Nation’s ability to respond for unforeseen contingencies across the globe;

• Boosts military construction accounts; and

• Funds force structure and capabilities needed to support Combatant Commander requirements.

To guard against unwise expenditures and actions that erode readiness, the proposal:

• Rejects the President’s request for an additional BRAC round and any other effort that seeks to lock in unwise force structure reductions during a time accelerated transition;

• Requires an accounting of enduring requirements funded through the Overseas Contingency Operations budget;

• Requests assessments of categories of excess capacity to better understand those areas the President believes need to be streamlined to achieve efficiencies; and

• Requires DoD to notify Congress in advance of bulk purchase of alternative fuels for operational use.

Congressman Rob Wittman represents the First District of Virginia. He serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Armed Services Committee where he is the Chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee.

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