Wittman discusses USMC Readiness

Rep. Rob Wittman is chairman of the House Armed Services Sub-Committee on Readiness and delivered remarks today during a hearing about the USMC and its preparations for the upcoming fiscal year:

“The purpose of this hearing is to clarify the Marine Corps’ 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 Marine Corps have the resources it requires in order to improve its state of readiness? This morning we want to get at the heart of the responsibility the Congress has placed on the Marine Corps and that is to serve as our nation’s force in readiness, and as General Neller has appropriately interpreted, he says ‘this means that our bags are always packed, Marines are ready to go and our gear is prepared, and we have to be able to fight when we get where we’re going.'”

This is how government is done. Not sound bites. Not slogans. The people’s representatives listen to pitches from the people who have devoted their lives to working on specific projects and a decision is ultimately made. In this case, it happens to be the USMC. And it’s not the stroke of a president’s pen.

You can see the testimony here.