Many lawmakers will not be making the trip south for next week’s field hearing aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, including many veterans who serve on the readiness and seapower subcommittees.
The two House Armed Services subcommittees are cohosting a hearing on Navy readiness in Norfolk, Va., aboard the ship pierside on Monday.
Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and chair of the seapower and projection forces subcommittee, said the field hearing will give him a chance to hear about readiness problems directly from the fleet, rather than second-hand from top officials in Washington.
“The reckless cuts of the last eight years have forced the Navy to reduce readiness to the bone, with very real consequences for the operators in the Fleet. At this hearing, we will hear directly from the men responsible for sailing our ships and flying our planes about the consequences of these short-sighted cuts,” Forbes said in a statement.
“I expect their testimony will be a great aid to Congress as we work to change the trend lines, halt further budget cuts and start building the 350-ship Navy that we so clearly need.”
Four Navy captains are scheduled to testify, representing the surface, aviation, submarine and construction battalion communities.
But the hearing, scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday morning, conflicts with many lawmakers’ plans to spend the weekend in their home district.
At least 12 of the 35 lawmakers on the two subcommittees will not be making the trip to Norfolk, their offices told the Washington Examiner. Most gave no reason for not attending the hearing, but those who did said the lawmaker planned to be in his or her home district.
Virginia State Del. Scott Taylor, who has mounted a GOP primary challenge against Forbes, accused the congressman of using the hearing as a political stunt and holding the hearing while sailors and Marines onboard are preparing to deploy to the Middle East just a week later.
“Randy Forbes’ ego knows no bounds,” Taylor said in an email to the Virginian-Pilot. “His decision to place his political interests before the needs of the sailors and Marines preparing to go on a combat deployment to the Middle East is the epitome of everything wrong with self-centered, conceited D.C. politicians.”
The primary is set for June 14.
Of note, several veterans of both parties on the subcommittees will not attend. Republican Reps. Ryan Zinke, Mont., Duncan Hunter, Calif., Brad Wenstrup, Ohio, and Steve Russell, Okla., will not attend. On the Democratic side, Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii, and Seth Moulton, Mass., will not attend, though a spokeswoman in Moulton’s office said his military legislative affairs staffer would attend in Moulton’s place.
Others who won’t attend include Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., James Langevin, D-R.I., and Gwen Graham, D-Fla.
Eight lawmakers got back to the Examiner and said they would be attending the hearing, including Forbes, Reps. Rob Wittman, R-Va., Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., Richard Nugent, R-Fla., Scott Peters, D-Calif., Joe Courtney, D-Conn., Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and Steve Knight, R-Calif.
David Wilkes contributed to this report.
