Statement of Chairman Gene Taylor
Joint Subcommittee Hearing on the
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAP)
July 19, 2007
"Today the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee joins with the Air and Land Forces Subcommittee in open session to receive testimony concerning our number one priority- the safety of American service men and women serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. This hearing is focused on the procurement of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle, or MRAP. The MRAP family of vehicles offers significant protection for troops from mines and IEDs exploding under the vehicle. This is due to increased ground clearance and, most importantly, a v-shaped undercarriage which helps to channel the force of the blast away from the vehicle.
"Make no mistake; this is not just another hearing on a Defense Department procurement program experiencing difficulty in cost and schedule. This is a hearing concerning the life and death of our soldiers, sailors, and marines serving in combat.
"I have not been satisfied with the response of this administration to the force protection needs of our troops. Just this Monday the country learned by reading an excellent article in USAToday that commanders in Iraq have submitted multiple requests for MRAP vehicles since 2004. Requests that until recently have apparently fallen on deaf ears. Our current troop vehicle, the HMMWV, is too vulnerable to bottom detonations. This administration needs to make every effort to replace every HUMMWV that leaves a protected area with an MRAP. Every single vehicle. That number might be as high as 17,000. And yet, the current schedule announced yesterday is to field just over 7700 vehicles.
"I am not sure that this administration and the leaders in the Department of Defense are committed to this program. We can not and must not be insensitive to casualties and just chalk them up to the dangers of war if they are preventable. The President continues to tell the country that we are at war, that more sacrifice is necessary to defeat the enemy. Then why does he not put the nation's industrial capacity in a wartime footing? Why are we not building MRAPs in Detroit, closing automobile production lines? I am tired of excuses; I am tired of being told the Army has not funded their requirement because they see no use for the vehicle after Iraq. Right now what I care about is present day Iraq and what happens to our soldiers, sailors, and marines who are truly the only ones sacrificing in this war.
"On Tuesday of this week the Secretary of Defense meet with the Chairman and Ranking Members of the defense committees and requested permission to reprogram funds into the MRAP program. However, his reprogramming request for slightly over a billion dollars is just a drop in the bucket to the actual need. Do not mistake my meaning; I am pleased that this Secretary has finally, after years of neglect, made the MRAP program the priority of the Department. But this piecemeal approach reminds me of the trouble experienced early in Iraq fielding body armor to all our troops, and the delays in providing up-armor to our fleet of HMMWV's. There was significant resistance in the Defense Department to spend the money necessary for that protection, and I sense there is still resistance to make a national commitment to field MRAPS.
"I want to make sure that we separate the need to defeat IEDs with the need for MRAPs. I have no doubt that talented and dedicated people are working very hard to find technologies to defeat IEDs. But the fact is that IEDs are still occurring, and the MRAP can prevent casualties when the IED succeeds. The armor and the V shaped undercarriage of the MRAP is the last line of defense when IED defeat mechanisms fail.
"In January we were told to expect 4,000 vehicles by the end of December 2007. Last week committee staff received a briefing that indicated that goal was unlikely to be met, that fewer than 3000 of the vehicles would be completed by the end of the year. On Tuesday the Secretary of Defense indicated he expects to have produced and fielded 3,900 MRAPs by the end of this year. The subcommittees would like to know how the acquisition strategy has changed in the past few days that allows for this dramatic increase in production. We would like to know what mitigating measures are being taken to increase production and, frankly, what you need from the Congress to help.
"Today we have a very distinguished panel of witnesses. I submit to the witnesses this hearing is not designed to be adversarial between the Congress and the Department, dwelling on past mistakes is not going to help at all in increasing the production of MRAPs. I want to know, and I believe the other Members of these two subcommittees want to know, the facts. Just tell us what you can and what you can not do, how long it will take, and anything you need from the Congress. Either in funding or legislation. This is serious business and we need serious solutions.
"Appearing today the committee welcomes:
The Honorable John Young, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering as well as the Director of the MRAP Vehicle Task Force
Lieutenant General John Castellaw, United States Marine Corps, Deputy Commandant for Programs and Resources.
Brigadier General Michael Brogan, United States Marine Corps. Commanding General of the Marine Corps Systems Command and the Program Executive Officer for the Joint MRAP program.
Lieutenant General Stephen Speakes, United States Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, Army Programs and Requirements
"At this time I would like to recognize my friend from Hawaii, the Chairman of the Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, the Honorable Neil Abercrombie."
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