Ranking Member John Garamendi

Opening Statement (As Prepared)

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Thank you, Chairman Waltz.

I am pleased to note that the Readiness mark is once again a product of bipartisan engagement from all Members of the subcommittee.  I appreciate your leadership in ensuring that the tradition has continued and congratulate you on your first mark in the Chairman role. In addition, I would like to thank the Members of this subcommittee from both sides of the aisle for their contributions not only to the mark itself but to the six months of oversight events that have informed its contents.  Finally, I would like to thank the committee’s staff for their countless hours of work in preparing this mark.

As I have often noted in hearings, the jurisdiction of the Readiness Subcommittee is broad in scope – and the work is never done. This year I am particularly proud of our continued work to strengthen our organic industrial base.  The last year has illustrated that modern depots, shipyards, and arsenals are vital to our national defense and there is no finer workforce than those who use their talents to sustain and modernize our weapons systems, so they are ready for our service members use when called upon.

This mark also continues our work to hold the Department accountable for meeting its readiness and sustainment goals. Ensuring that the taxpayer receives the full benefit of the significant investments we’ve made in our state-of-the-art weapons systems.  There is still considerable improvement needed in this area, but this mark continues our work to ensure better weapons sustainment across the military departments.

I think the mark before the Members is a good product, reflective of the bipartisan nature of this subcommittee’s work, and I encourage my colleagues to support its adoption.

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