House Armed Services Committee
Subcommittee Chairman Snyder's Opening Statement--March 27, 2007
"Let me welcome: Major General Pollock, Acting Surgeon General of the Army; Vice Admiral Arthur, Surgeon General of the Navy; and Lieutenant General Roudebush, Surgeon General of the Air Force.
"We appreciate you being here to testify on the state of the Military Health Care System. This will be the General Pollock's first appearance of before the subcommittee as the Army's Acting Surgeon General: welcome, General. Today may also be Admiral Arthur's final opportunity to testify before the subcommittee before his retirement. Thank you, Admiral, for your 33 years of service to our nation. You will be missed.
"We cannot discuss the current state of the Military Health Care System without acknowledging the events of the past month. The stories and pictures reported out of Walter Reed showed our failure to properly care for all of our wounded warriors. While leadership failures no doubt played a role, the events paint a picture of system under great stress.
"It is incumbent upon all of us to make sure that all of our wounded warriors receive all of the care and support they need in a timely manner.
"In order to have an open and honest dialogue, we need to understand both the challenges the system faces and the solutions the Department of Defense and the services have proposed. Our military medics face growing requirements as far into the future as we can see. They will continue to support operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on Terror. They will also need to support the expansion of the Army and Marine Corps.
"While they are doing all of these things, however, the military medical departments are being required to cut costs. They are being tasked to find "efficiencies" in the system to the tune of $248 million in FY08. They are further required to convert military medical positions to civilian ones, frequently reducing the overall number of medical professionals in the process.
"I have no doubt that our dedicated military personnel will devote all of their efforts to accomplish their assigned missions. I do worry, though, that they are not being given the resources they need: not want, but need to fully support our nation's military forces.
"Mr. McHugh, did you have a statement you would like to make?"
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