House Proceeding 06-24-09 on Jun 24th, 2009 :: 0:22:50 to 0:27:10
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0:22:47 to 0:23:08( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: forward deployed troops, our allies and i hope our allies work with us to pass the bill towards passage. . the chair: the gentleman from california. yield to the gentleman from maryland, mr. bartlett, the ranking member on the airland

0:22:50 to 0:27:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Roscoe G. Bartlett

0:23:09 to 0:23:29( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: subcommittee such time as he may consume. the chair: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mrbarton: thank you. i'd like to thank my -- mr. -- mr. bartlett: thank you. i'd like to thank all the hard work that has taken place behind the scenes to get this bill done. this is not an easy process. and the legislation before us reflects many difficult

0:23:30 to 0:23:51( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: decisionings -- decisions. once again this bill places forced protection issues at the top of the priority list. it provides additional funds for the national guard equipment account and the service's unfunded priority list and the changes this bill makes in regards to body armor is long overdue and will provide better protection for our war fighters for years to come.

0:23:52 to 0:24:12( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: as i said during our oversight hearings and subcommittee markup, there hst no doubt that this budget and the decisions that come along with it will fundamentally change the united states air force and army. i see two problems. first, the budget should not drive the strategy. the strategy should be set, th the funding requirements are laid out in the budget that

0:24:13 to 0:24:33( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: follows. it appears to me that in many cases funding limitations and the f.y. 2010 budget top line were the sole driver and major policy decisions. the second problem i see is that instead of openly engaging the legislative branch and policy matters proposed structure

0:24:34 to 0:24:54( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: changes and the shifting of requirements for major weapons platforms, the executive branch has chosen to lock us out of those debates and tie our hands by unveiling sweeping policy changes buried under the guise of a budget request. a case in point is the joint cargo aircraft. i've asked witnesses from the army, the air force and the office of the secretary of

0:24:55 to 0:25:15( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: defense, what has changed? why is this mission being moved out of the army and solely over to the air force when not four months ago we received the roles and missions review report that stated that, and i quote, the option that provided most value to the joint force was to assign the c-27-j. to the army and air force?

0:25:16 to 0:25:37( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: closed quote. none of them have been able to answer the question but all of them stated there was no new study or analysis conducted that countered the existing plan or reduced the rocket requirements for 78 joint cargo aircraft. what has happened as a result of all this is that the congress is now left to debate the puts and takes in the budget with when

0:25:38 to 0:25:58( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: there has been no vetting of the underlying policy or strategy. this by, not the executive branch, is charged with the constitutional mandate to raise and support arm >>s -- armies and navies. i'm extremely troubled that these decisions have been made in the vacuum and appear at least on the surface to be informed by nothing other than top line budget pressures. i want to be clear that my frtration's with the

0:25:59 to 0:26:20( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: department and not this bill. in fact, given a little information that we have received, i believe our members on both sides of the aisle are really excellent staff have done an amazing job. as i've said on many occasion, the house committee has a long tradition on focusing on issues that most impact and help our brave men and women in uniform and i, like

0:26:21 to 0:26:41( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: all of the members on both sides of the aisle, am very proud to be serving onhis committee. finally i would like to briefly comment on the army's future combat system. as we all know, the secretary of defense announces the decision to restructure the program and terminate the man-ground vehicles. our committee has scrutinized the program in a bipartisan manner since 2004.

0:26:42 to 0:27:03( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: we've consistently had concerns in regard to the survivability of the man-ground vehicles but we have never questioned the validity of the need for the army to modernize and place a combat vehicle fleet that is in excess of 30 years old. the problem i have is that there's still much information we need so that we can make informed decisions. as a result, week of been forced

0:27:04 to 0:27:11( Edit History Discussion )

Roscoe G. Bartlett: to make some very difficult decisions that i would prefer to make with more information. again,