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Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Solomon Ortiz Opening Statement Hearing on Fiscal Year 2009 Military Construction Request"

February 28, 2008

"I thank our distinguished witnesses for appearing before this subcommittee today.

"Today the Readiness subcommittee will hear about our military construction and BRAC programs. The President's budget proposes an increase in military construction that leads one to believe that the Department of Defense will have a well funded infrastructure program in FY09.

"However, I believe that a deeper review of the program may reveal that this is not the case. The services are trying to perform three complex tasks at the same time: Grow the Force, transformation and maintaining existing infrastructure. Unfortunately, this budget proposal doesn't fully address any of these areas.

"First, let me say that this committee strongly supports the "Grow the Force" expansion of the Army and the Marine Corps' end strength. Unfortunately, this committee has heard reports that in many cases the permanent infrastructure needed to support the end strength increases will arrive well after the Soldiers and Marines have already reported to their permanent duty stations. To cover this gap in facilities, the Army and the Marine Corps have indicated that they will aggressively pursue a temporary building program until they can finalize their permanent infrastructure.

"This is a huge undertaking, with the Army alone maintaining over 10 million square feet of space in temporary facilities. These facilities will be minimally adequate and will affect the quality of life for our servicemembers and civilian employees. I understand the driving need for space but I am very concerned that in the end we will spend a great deal of money on a short-term solution.

"The Services Transformation plans present us with similar concerns. I have always opposed BRAC and believe that our selection process was badly flawed. In the 2005 round of BRAC we didn't eliminate any excess infrastructure; we only moved facilities around the checkerboard. BRAC implementation costs have doubled, savings are down and now I understand that the Services may not be able to meet the September 2011 deadline. These are all concerning and I hope our witnesses will address these issues in their testimony.

"On a related transformation note, I understand that the Air Force's budget submission includes a request for additional F-22s, C-17s and other aircraft. Unfortunately, the infrastructure to support these new airplanes won't be available until well after the arrival of these important aviation assets. This is a puzzling disconnect and again causes me to worry that the transformation program isn't being executed carefully.

"Finally, let me again voice my concerns about the maintenance of our existing infrastructure. In the FY09 budget request, the Department has proposed to fund the daily maintenance of its facilities at 90% of the requirement. This means that 10% of the things that are broken will not be repaired. Imagine if we only fixed 90% of the critical problems in our own homes every year. It wouldn't take long before our houses were in a state of disrepair.

"In addition to this shortfall, the Army has elected to take a pause in recapitalizing their infrastructure. Zero restoration. These decisions continue a DOD trend of underfunding repairs and will lead to an accelerated decline of facilities that will decrease the quality of life and negatively impact operations on base. This is not smart management.

"Gentlemen, I think that we have a lot to discuss today and I look forward to hearing you address these important issues.

"The Chair recognizes the distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Forbes, for any remarks he would like to make."