Bradley Byrne: Supporting our military, repaying our veterans
One of the highest honors from my time in Congress has been the many interactions I’ve had with members of our nation’s armed forces and our veterans. Throughout the long history of the United States, countless Americans have served our country honorably in the military. Many made the ultimate sacrifice. There is no greater way to say “thank you” to our fighting men and women and our veterans than by ensuring they are taken care of both during and after their service, with the most up-to-date weapons systems and funding to carry out their missions, and with commonsense solutions to veterans issues. I am proud to once again serve on the House Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, and Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. These are two important roles that directly impact the state of Alabama and our country. My work on the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee is important to the 4,000 people working at Austal shipyard in Southwest Alabama and the 2,000 Alabamians who work at Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Mississippi. These two shipyards are crucial to the U.S. Navy’s goal of a 355-ship fleet. My work on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee is crucial for Alabama as many of the missile defense systems are designed and built in places like Huntsville and Troy. Having of a strong missile defense program is obviously vital to the security of our entire nation. Not only is it necessary to take care of our service members while they are on active duty, but it is our responsibility to care for our veterans as well. A career of service never ends for members of the armed forces, and we cannot fail them. One of the ways I am continuing to advocate for our veterans is by supporting policies that will get them the benefits they deserve. For example, I am proud to support the Retired Pay Restoration Act to ensure all military retirees with service-connected disabilities get their military retirement and disability payments concurrently. Currently, veterans with under a 50% service-connected disability rating have their disability pay deducted from their retirement pay, even though they are completely different benefits. I will continue to fight for this legislation until our veterans get all of their disability and retirement compensation. I continue to fight for veterans who were exposed to the toxic herbicide, Agent Orange, during the Vietnam War. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act allows the thousands of veterans of the Vietnam War who served in “blue-water” Navy posts off Vietnam’s shoreline to receive benefits for this service connected disability. And last Wednesday, I joined 20 of my colleagues in sending a letter to the Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery and the Secretary of the Army to allow American flags to be carried by visitors in Arlington Cemetery. It only makes sense that in one of the most sacred places in the United States Americans should be able to represent their patriotism openly and clearly through the display of an American flag. It is just a small way we can express our gratitude for those who paid the ultimate price for the freedom our flag represents. Ensuring our service members can adequately defend and protect our nation both at home and abroad, taking care of our veterans, and honoring those who have given their all is the least we can do as Americans. Alabama’s role in the defense of our nation, both past and present, is something we should all take immense pride in, and I am glad to know that our great state is paving the way for a safer world and a stronger America. • • • Bradley Byrne is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
Congressman Mike Rogers plays critical role in U.S. missile defense, national security
As North Korean missiles soar over the Pacific, Hawaii lawmakers are preparing for a possible nuclear attack by North Korea on the U.S. state. Many Americans across the country believe policymakers in Washington have an obligation to fund systems that can protect Americans here and now. One such lawmaker who plays a key role in Congress’ missile defense decision-making is Alabama 3rd District. U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), Rogers was selected to serve as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, which is specifically tasked with dealing with missile defense and nuclear weapons issues. With tensions over North Korea’s weapons systems escalating in recent months — as North Korea
Bradley Byrne: Preventing naval tragedies
On June 17th, the USS Fitzgerald, a guided missile destroyer with the United States Navy, collided with a merchant vessel southwest of Tokyo, Japan. The collision resulted in the death of seven Navy sailors and an additional three crewmembers were injured. Then, on August 21st, the USS John S. McCain, also a Navy destroyer, collided with a merchant vessel in the Straits of Malacca, near Singapore. This time, ten crewmembers were killed and five others injured. The death of a single U.S. service member is one death too many, but losing seventeen Navy sailors in the course of a few months is a real tragedy. The House Armed Services Committee recently convened a hearing to examine these incidents. As a member of the Committee, I was especially interested in what needed to change to prevent events like this from occurring in the future. In addition to the two tragic incidents, there were also recent incidents where the USS Antietam ran aground near Japan and the USS Lake Champlain collided with a fishing boat. Neither of these resulted in any injuries, but they did cause damage to the ships. Already, the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, where all these incidents occurred, has been relieved of his command and the commanding officers of the USS Fitzgerald and the USS Antietam were also removed. During the hearing, we heard a number of different ideas and concerns from the Navy leadership who testified. Notably, the Navy made clear that investigations into these incidents are still ongoing, but I think a number of conclusions can be drawn. First, we must continue to evaluate and improve our Navy’s training programs. Today’s ships have very complex technology that requires extensive training and retraining to keep the crew up-to-speed. We also need to make sure we have enough sailors to prevent exhaustion and fatigue from adding unnecessary risk. Studies indicate that today’s sailors are working longer hours than their predecessors. Our ships require full manning to perform their missions throughout the globe. The size of the fleet is also an issue. More ships mean shorter and less frequent deployments per ship, which lessens the wear and tear on the ship and leaves more time for maintenance and training. We have 100 ships throughout the world but with a fleet that has shrunk over 40% since the late 1980s. All of these areas tie back to a major underlying issue: lack of adequate funding and funding certainty for our national defense. These are both Congressional responsibilities and requirements. We must give the Navy and the entire military more budget certainty. The Navy needs to know how much money they will be receiving each year in order to effectively plan their programs and procure new ships. I was pleased when the House passed a strong military funding bill earlier this year. Specific to these concerns, the bill called for bringing on more military personnel and buying eleven more Navy ships. Unfortunately, the Senate has so far failed to pass the military funding bill. This resulted in Congress last week passing a short-term Continuing Resolution that simply holds funding levels in place. I voted against the short-term Continuing Resolution because of the negative impact it will have on our military. It will delay maintenance periods for ships we need to send back out to the fleet and delay the process of procuring new ships, to name a few crippling effects. Of course we need the Navy to do a better job of training and operating their vessels, but Congress has to also do our part to ensure adequate funding and budget certainty. We cannot continue to underfund our military and put our sailors and service members at risk. • • • Bradley Byrne is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
Defense bill passes committee with support of 3 Ala. members, boosts military, supports shipbuilding
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) voted 60-1 to authorize $696.5 billion in defense spending for 2018 Wednesday night with the support of three Members of the Alabama delegation that sit on the committee. Reps. Bradley Byrne (AL-01), Mike Rogers (AL-03) and Mo Brooks (AL-05) all voted in favor of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes funding and sets policy for the entire U.S. military. Many reforms were included in this year’s NDAA, including: Increases total military spending by 10% to rebuild from our current readiness crisis; Funds a 2.4% pay raise for our troops; Reforms the military’s acquisition process to make it more efficient; Improves oversight of cyber operations; Creates a new U.S. Space Corps to oversee the evolving space domain; Increases the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Army Guard and Reserve, Naval and Air Reserve, and Air Guard; Supports improvements to military facilities with a focus on restoration and modernization; and Authorizes construction of 13 new Navy ships to grow toward a 355 ship fleet. “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps rebuild our nation’s military, boosts shipbuilding in an effort to grow our fleet, and ensures our military men and women have the resources necessary to defend our country,” said Byrne of the NDAA. “Once again, we were able to secure authorization for the construction of three more Littoral Combat Ships, which are built right here in Southwest Alabama. These ships continue to excel in the fleet, and that is a testament to the over 4,000 men and women who work at the Mobile shipyard. The legislation included language important for Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District that affects the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) and the Anniston Army Depot (ANAD). Language was also included to study some of the funding mechanisms of the depot in hopes of using the information to make workload planning more dependable and consistent. “The men and women and the Anniston Army Depot work very hard to support our nation’s warfighter and I want to ensure we are doing everything we can in Congress to support them,” said Rogers. “This is the first step in providing our nation’s military personnel with the resources needed to protect America,” remarked Brooks. “The FY18 NDAA authorizes a very substantial $62 billion increase over FY 2017 funding, thereby taking significant steps to reverse military declines and addressing America’s military readiness crisis by increasing the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Army Guard and Reserve, Naval and Air Reserve, and Air Guard.” The bill is expected to be considered by the full House in July.
Donald Trump’s proposed big military budget no sure thing
Republicans control Congress so President Donald Trump‘s pledge to boost the Pentagon budget by tens of billions of dollars should be a sure bet. It’s not. Trump faces skeptical Democrats whose support he’ll need and resistance from fiscal conservatives opposed to repealing a 2011 law that set firm limits on military and domestic spending. Unless the president figures out a way to mollify the disparate camps, he’ll have a tough time delivering on a signature campaign promise to rescue the armed forces from a festering financial crisis. Senior U.S. commanders have flatly warned that the spending caps set by the Budget Control Act are squeezing the armed forces so hard that the number of ready-to-fight units is dwindling. That means beating powers such as Russia or China is tougher than it used to be as aging equipment stacks up, waiting to be repaired, and troops don’t get enough training. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the Army’s vice chief of staff, startled many lawmakers when he testified recently that just three of the service’s 58 active-duty and reserve brigade combat teams are ready to fight at a moment’s notice. Allyn and other four-star officers pleaded during separate hearings in the House and Senate for the spending limits to be repealed, clearing the way for the bigger budgets they say are needed to stop the military’s readiness for combat from decaying further. “We need to act now before it’s too late,” said Gen. Stephen Wilson, the Air Force’s vice chief of staff. The average age of Air Force aircraft is 27 years, according to Wilson, who added that more than half of the service’s inventory would qualify for antique vehicle license plates in Virginia. On top of that, the Air Force is short 1,500 pilots and 3,400 aircraft maintainers, he said. The Navy and Marine Corps are experiencing the same turbulence. Trump, speaking at a White House news conference Thursday, said he’s ordered a plan for a “massive rebuilding” of the armed forces. He didn’t disclose how much he expected his blueprint to cost. National security hawks in Congress have suggested a defense budget of $700 billion in 2018 — more than at any point during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The total, which includes $60 billion for overseas combat operations, is $91 billion over the mandatory spending cap. That’s just a down payment to begin digging out of a readiness problem the Pentagon’s top brass says will take years to fix. GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has envisioned annual increases of between 3 percent and 4 percent, culminating with an $800 billion budget for the armed forces in 2022. Securing these sizable and sustained increases will require repealing the Budget Control Act. Trump, however, has proposed to eliminate only the budget limit on defense. That’s a nonstarter for Democrats, who have long demanded parity between the two broad categories of federal spending. They’ve argued that Trump’s approach will continue to restrict the budgets of the departments of State, Treasury and Justice, all of which play essential national security roles. “We’ve always insisted, on our side of the aisle, that as long as the caps are in place, there should be equal relief,” said Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee. Trump will need at least a handful of Democrats on his side: It’ll take 60 votes in the Senate to undo the budget law and Republicans hold 52 seats. Republicans hold a larger majority in the House, but the party’s deficit hawks are a significant obstacle. They see the caps as blunt yet effective tools to curb federal spending and prevent the national debt from spiraling further out of control. “We’re walking into a financial train wreck that is going to have implications not just in terms of national security but in terms of everyone’s financial security,” said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. “It would be disastrous to simply abandon the caps with no other alternative in place.” But not everyone is convinced that the Pentagon is struggling so mightily. Lawmakers such as Rep. Jackie Speier, a liberal California Democrat and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, contend the current defense budget of $611 billion is already more than China and Russia spend on their militaries combined. On top of that, money is being wasted on bases and installations that are no longer needed but remain open because the GOP-led Congress has so far refused to allow a new round of base closures. “No one wants to see bases close,” Speier said. “But we have a certain pot of money and we’ve got to use it smartly.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Bradley Byrne: Committee assignments highlight top priorities
When I am not casting a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives or visiting with groups in my office, a large percentage of my time in Washington is spent serving on committees. There are currently twenty standing committees in the House, and each member of Congress serves on at least one committee. These committees are where much of the legislative work is actually done. Committees hold hearings that focus on issues under their jurisdiction. These could be oversight hearings with agency heads and cabinet officials or hearings with stakeholders or people impacted by the legislation being discussed. Committees are also where most legislation is written, revised, and vetted. After a bill is introduced in the House, it is sent to the appropriate committee. From there, the committee chairman can decide whether or not to hold a hearing on the bill or if the bill should be brought up for a vote. I am honored to serve on three committees: Armed Services, Education and the Workforce, and Rules. I want to briefly take a look at each of these assignments and outline our top priorities. The Armed Services Committee has jurisdiction over the entire U.S. military. We focus on everything from procurement of new military equipment to the health care benefits of service members to overall defense strategy. A top priority of mine on the Armed Services Committee is seapower issues, including building up our nation’s naval fleet. I believe a strong Navy is critical in terms of keeping the sea lanes open for commerce and ensuring the American people remain safe and secure. I also use my position on the Armed Services Committee to support the important military shipbuilding projects based on the Gulf Coast. This includes the impressive work at the Austal shipyard in Mobile, but also the work done at neighboring Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula. As a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, I get to work on policies relating to K-12 education, higher education, workforce training, labor, employment, and pensions. We focus on ensuring every American has the education they need to be successful in the workforce, but also on policies that support our nation’s current workers. I am especially excited that Chairwoman Virginia Foxx selected me to serve as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. Our subcommittee deals with issues ranging from wages and hours of workers to mine safety to the Family and Medical Leave Act. I really look forward to using this Chairmanship to advance policies that make life easier for our nation’s workers. Finally, I serve on the House Rules Committee. The Rules Committee is different than every other committee in the House, and it is actually one of the oldest and most powerful committees. It is the job of the Rules Committee to prepare bills for debate on the House floor. Our committee sets the terms of debate before a bill can come up for a vote. For example, we may have to decide which amendments should be allowed for debate and how long the debate should last. The Rules Committee is an especially busy committee, but it gives me a unique opportunity to have an input on almost every bill that comes up for a vote in the House. All told, I believe these committee assignments put me in a strong position to advocate for policies and legislation that are important to families, workers, students, teachers, service members, and small businesses in Southwest Alabama. • • • Bradley Byrne is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
