Lawmakers are no strangers to making waves on Capitol Hill, but at this hearing, they’ll actually get to see them.
Two House Armed Services subcommittees are co-hosting a hearing aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower in Norfolk, Va., on May 23 to see problems facing the fleet first hand, according to Farahn Morgan, a spokeswoman for Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va.
Wittman, who chairs the readiness subcommittee, is organizing the hearing along with Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces.
“This on-site hearing will give us the opportunity to hear from the men and women on the ground and see first-hand the issues they are dealing with every day. If Congress is to address the readiness obstacles that successive cuts in defense spending have caused, we need a clear, unadulterated view of what’s really happening,” Wittman said in a statement.
Mid-level Navy officers who deal with readiness issues every day will testify before lawmakers at the hearing, which will focus on “the Navy’s readiness and force structure shortfalls,” Morgan said.
The field hearing allows members to avoid the second-hand accounts they often get from officials on Capitol Hill.
“The testimony that these mid-level officers will offer is absolutely invaluable in that regard. They are watching as our fleet dwindles and as our sailors and their families suffer under the strain of less training and longer deployments. They deserve to be heard on this issue,” Wittman said.
Military leaders of all services have complained that readiness has taken a hit in recent years under shrinking budgets. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said an at event this year that the Navy’s “readiness continues to be challenged.”
It’s unclear how many members of the two subcommittees will make the three-hour drive south to Norfolk. A spokeswoman for Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., said the former Navy SEAL will not attend.
