I am pleased that it is one we can work in a bipartisan manner. I believe we all want a Strong Military and a strong private sector and a strong government that is wisely tracking taxpayers money and spending it efficiently for the purposes that it was meant for. I look forward to working with the Ranking Member in the future and i am so pleased he is with us here today. Without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time and i now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. Good morning. Todays hearing will focus on the f35 joint strike fighter. A highly technical stuff fighter that the pentagon largest and most costly acquisition program. Since the 35 Program Began more than 20 years ago the department of defense has spent more than 350 billion on its development. Total cost to sustain the program are estimated at more than 1 trillion. Unfortunately, this expensive program has been plagued by challenges for years, including major problems with ma
Accidental admiral . Guest what a great question at a certain level all of our lives, you can choose to steer a particular course but the sea will come, the wind will come and you will go in a different direction. It comes from a period in my career when i was a four star admiral just finishing up at us Southern Command in charge of all military activities south of the United States and i was very hopeful in going to the pacific as commander of us Pacific Command which is a senior position, robert gates, called me up and said forget about the specific we are going to send you to nato so i became the first and thus far the only admiral, supreme allied commander in nato and it was an accident that did that. From the nato perspective i was be accidental admiral who became the supreme allied commander. Host the navy was an accident as well. Guest somewhat. I grew up in a marine corps family. My father fought in korea and vietnam. I grew up in that environment and went to Quantico High Scho
354, h. R. 6395, a bill to authorize appropriations for 2021 for military activities of the department of military d for construction to prescribe military personnel strength for for other year and purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to House Resolution 053, in lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on the services printed in bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of rules committee is adopted and the bill, as amended, is considered as read. Debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ng minority member of committee on Armed Services. The gentleman from washington, smith, and the gentleman from texas, mr. Thornberry, each minutes. Rol 30 the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and to heir remarks include extraneous material on h. R. 6395. The speaker pro tempore witho
Our oversight over the and our t of Defense National Security Budget and priorities, and this bill reflects that. Start by thanking a lot of people who have done an enormous amount of work to make this possible. Started in committee a couple of weeks ago. E had over 650 amendments submitted to the original mark of the chairman and the subcommittee marks. Processed those amendments and actually adopted 475 committee. In i want to thank our staff more than i possibly can for the amount of work they did to go through all of those amendments, to work with various to work with interested parties to get us to that product. I am very pleased we were able that done and pass the bill out of the Armed Services unanimously. 560. With broad support. I want at this point thank the Ranking Member of the committee, mr. Thornberry, for his incredible leadership during this process. Hes been a terrific partner, when he was chairman of the committee and now that hes the Ranking Member of the committee.
New infections thats the largest daily number any country has reported since the outbreak began well despite this the u. S. President will celebrate july 4th with a trip to Mount Rushmore defying Health Experts recommendations to avoid large crowds in a few hours time donald trump will watch a fireworks display with thousands of people at the south dakota landmark mosques will be available but are not required the site has not had fireworks since 2009 because of Environmental Concerns trump visit is expected to be met by protests our White House Correspondent Kimberly Halkett explains why trumps 4th of july plans has angered some. Before he heads to south dakota in a few hours he also took in a round of golf here locally outside washington d. C. Many people remarking at the tone deafness of the president and the optics of this message that hes sending when americans are being told to scale back stay at home that if you dont there is going to be an even worse outbreak in august and in t