| 00:00:00 | OF OUR MILITARY. |
| 00:00:03 | HOWEVER, THERE'S MUCH WORK TO BE DONE. |
| 00:00:05 | SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENTS WILL HAVE TO BE MADE IN THE UPCOMING YEARS BY CONGRESS AND THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION ORWELL RISK BREAKING OUR FORCES. |
| 00:00:13 | THIS BILL CONTINUES TO WORK -- THE WORK OF THE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE TO RESTORE READINESS BY AUTHORIZING $154 BILLION FOR OPERATIONS MAINTENANCE AND TRAINING AND $25 BILLION FOR MILITARY CONSTRUCTION. |
| 00:00:27 | $8.6 BILLION FOR THE ARMY. |
| 00:00:30 | AND $1. |
| 00:00:31 | 8 BILLION FOR THE MARINE CORPS FOR REPLACEMENT OF EQUIPMENT. |
| 00:00:37 | TO ADDRESS THIS WORKLOAD FOLLOWING EQUIPMENT, IT REQUIRES THE DEPARTMENT TO HELP WITH EQUIPMENT THAT WILL BE NEEDED IN THE FUTURE. |
| 00:00:50 | THE BILL TAKES POSITIVE STEPS TO STRENGTHEN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, INS CREASE RELIANCE ON CONTRACTORS TO PERFORM CRITICAL FUNCTIONS, INCLUDING DEVELOPMENT OF A SINGLE DEFINITION OF GOVERNMENTAL DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES ON PERSONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND LIMITS ON PERSONAL SERVICE CONTRACTS. |
| 00:01:09 | WE CONTINUE TO TAKE STEPS TO LOOK OUT FOR DEPLOYED CIVILIANS EMPLOYEES BY LIFTING PREMIUMS ON PAY AND HAVE THEM SIGN UP FOR ADDITIONAL LIFE INSURANCE. |
| 00:01:20 | BUT I'M CONCERNED THAT THE BILL DOES NOT ADDRESS THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE USE OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMPANIES. |
| 00:01:27 | I ASK MY COLLEAGUES TO SUPPORT THIS BILL. |
| 00:01:30 | I YIELD BACK THE BALANCE OF MY TIME. |
| 00:01:33 | THANK YOU. |
| 00:01:35 | THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: THE GENTLEMAN FROM CALIFORNIA. |
| 00:01:37 | MR. |
| 00:01:38 | HUNTER: I'D LIKE TO YIELD TWO MINUTES TO THE GENTLEMAN FROM ALABAMA, THE VERY DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN, MR. |
| 00:01:43 | EVERETT. |
| 00:01:44 | THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: THE GENTLEMAN IS RECOGNIZED FOR TWO MINUTES. |
| 00:01:47 | MR. |
| 00:01:48 | EVERETT: THANK YOU VERY MUCH. |
| 00:01:49 | THANK YOU, MR. |
| 00:01:50 | SPEAKER. I THANK MY GOOD FRIEND, MR. |
| 00:01:52 | HUNTER, FOR YIELDING TO ME AND THANK HIM FOR HIS FRIENDSHIP, HIS COUNSEL AND |
Mr. ORTIZ. I thank the gentleman.
I also want to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes) for his help in bringing together this excellent bill. And I would like to thank my staff because they did a heck of a good job meeting with Senate staff and many other committees before bringing this bill to the House floor.
I am proud to say this bill focuses on restoring the readiness of our military. However, there is much work to be done. Significant investments will need to be made in the upcoming years by Congress and the next administration or we will risk breaking our forces.
This bill continues the work of the Armed Services Committee to restore readiness by authorizing $154 billion for operations, maintenance and training, and $25 billion for military construction. And $8.6 billion for the Army and $1.8 billion for the Marine Corps was authorized for the repair and replacement of equipment.
To address depot workloads following equipment reset, the bill requires the Department of Defense to contract for an independent assessment of the depot capability that will be needed in the future.
The bill takes positive steps to restrain the Department of Defense's increased reliance on the use of contractors to perform critical functions, including development of a single definition of ``inherently governmental,'' development of policies on personal conflicts of interest, and limits on personal service contracts.
We continue to take steps to look out for our deployed civilian employees by lifting limits on premium pay and allowing them to voluntarily sign up for additional life insurance.
But I am concerned that the bill does not address the Department of Defense's aggressive use of public-private competitions.
I ask my colleagues to support this bill. It is a very good bill.