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
Next, Defense Department officials testified at a House Oversight hearing on the f 35 joint star fighter jet program. They were asked about maintenance issues and concerns that prime contractor Lockheed Martin provided defective spare parts and Outdated Technology systems for the aircraft. And generalsident manager of the f35 program at Lockheed Martin corporation also joined the hearing remotely to answer questions from lawmakers. The committee will come to order. Like to all, i would congratulate Ranking Member komar. This is his First Full Committee Hearing as a ranking i believe we are want a strong private military, strong private sector that is widely 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 that he is with us here today. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time, and i now recognize myself for open
This hearing will come to order. Good morning. Next week americans will honor our nations veterans who have paid the price for our freedom in times of conflict and served as our shield in times of peace. Today, nearly 20 million americans have earned the title of veteran. Im proud to say that maine is home to more than 114,000 veterans. The second highest percentage in our entire country. We owe them such a great debt. The gratitude we express in words on veterans day can repay this debt only in small measure. A truly grateful nation must match its words with actions. As we will learn today, one issue that calls for our immediate action is to fight a newer enemy facing our veterans and that is those relentless con artists who seek to rob them of their life savings and defraud them of the benefits they have earned in service to our country. Often, veterans fall victim to the same scams that this committee has highlighted in recent years such as the irs imposter scam, the grandparent sca
This hearing will come to order. Good morning. Next week americans will honor our nations veterans who have paid the price for our freedom in times of conflict and served as our shield in times of peace. Today, nearly 20 million americans have earned the title of veteran. Im proud to say that maine is home to more than 114,000 veterans. The second highest percentage in our entire country. We owe them such a great debt. The gratitude we express in words on veterans day can repay this debt only in small measure. A truly grateful nation must match its words with actions. As we will learn today, one issue that calls for our immediate action is to fight a newer enemy facing our veterans and that is those relentless con artists who seek to rob them of their life savings and defraud them of the benefits they have earned in service to our country. Often, veterans fall victim to the same scams that this committee has highlighted in recent years such as the irs imposter scam, the grandparent sca
Im proud to say that maine is home to more than 114,000 veterans. The second highest percentage in our entire country. We owe them such a great debt. The gratitude we express in words on veterans day can repay this debt only in small measure. A truly grateful nation must match its words with actions. As we will learn today, one issue that calls for our immediate action is to fight a newer enemy facing our veterans and that is those relentless con artists who seek to rob them of their life savings and defraud them of the benefits they have earned in service to our country. Often, veterans fall victim to the same scams that this committee has highlighted in recent years such as the irs imposter scam, the grandparent scam, the romance scam, the jamaican lottery scheme and Identity Theft. Theres also troubling evidence that some fraudsters are deliberately targeting veterans and theyre structuring their scams in order to reach our veterans. For example, in a case that we will hear more abo