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  • Rep. Ruben Gallego Demands Answers Regarding Military Readiness

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    Congressman Ruben Gallego
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    Rep. Ruben Gallego sent a letter to the military Joint Chiefs of Staff demanding information about the effects that unplanned military operations – including President Trump’s diversion of troops and resources to the southwest border – are having on military readiness.

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    Rep. Ruben Gallego sent a letter to the military Joint Chiefs of Staff demanding information about the effects that unplanned military operations – including President Trump’s diversion of troops and resources to the southwest border – are having on military readiness.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Flag for inappropriate content
    218 views7 pages

    Rep. Ruben Gallego Demands Answers Regarding Military Readiness

    Uploaded by

    Congressman Ruben Gallego
    Rep. Ruben Gallego sent a letter to the military Joint Chiefs of Staff demanding information about the effects that unplanned military operations – including President Trump’s diversion of troops and resources to the southwest border – are having on military readiness.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    RUBEN GALLEGO aan Congress of the United States wes ae ee House of Representatives emer OFF NATURAL RESOURCES reer com eS nce Washington, BE 20515-0307 Pro me 201 March 22, 2019 ‘Admiral John M. Richardson Chief of Naval Operations United States Navy 2000 Navy Pentagon Washington, DC 20350-2000 Admiral Richardson: It has come to my attention that your Marine counterpart, General Robert B. Neller, has communicated to the Acting Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy that the Marines’ readiness and ability to meet core missions is being negatively and decisively affected by unfunded mandates, including southwest border operations General Neller notes that Marines are working in structures compromised by natural disasters. He notes that numerous exercises and engagements around the world — critical for Marines to train to advance to contact, engage the enemy, and destroy him in the field — are being cancelled or reduced. He notes that the Marines will be forced “to stop hurricane work in May which is unacceptable.” All of these things are, indeed, unacceptable. Knowing Department processes, I know that these problems are almost certainly not limited to the Marine Corps. Furthermore, Congress needs this information to make funding decisions. Therefore, in light of the urgency and import this issue, provide a complete assessment of the readiness risks to the Army that mitror those that General Neller lays out in his memos to Acting Secretary Shanahan and Secretary Spencer. Ensure that this report includes: + Lists of unplanned and unbudgeted factors in FY 2019 that the Navy is managing; ‘+ Lists of cancelled, delayed, or reduced trainings and exercises in FY 2019; ‘* Effects of these cancelled, delayed, or reduced trainings and exercises on the Navy’s readiness; ‘+ Effects of these cancelled, delayed, or reduced trainings and exercises on alliances and partnerships; Effects of raiding current year accounts to fund unplanned and unbudgeted factors on the solvency of the Navy, and; © Copies of memoranda from Navy leadership to civilian Departmental leadership regarding readiness issues over the course of the past two calendar years. ‘Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter of critical importance to the safety of our servicemembers and to the national defense. Sincerely, Ls Abege Ruben Gallego Member of Congress Encl. (1) Memo from Commandant Neller to Secretary Spencer~ USMC FISCAL YEAR 19 (FY-19) — RAPIDLY ACCELERATING RISKS (2) Member from Commandant Neller to Acting Secretary of Defense Shanahan — REQUEST FOR ASSISTNACE IN FUNDING FISCAL YEAR (FY)-I9 HURRICAN REPAIRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS: ‘3000 MARINE CORPS PENTAGON ‘WASHINGTON, De 20350-3000 19000 cmc MAR 18 2019 From: Commandant of the Marine Corps To; Secretary of the Navy Subj: USMC FISCAL YEAR 19 (FY-19) - RAPIDLY ACCELERATING RISKS Encl: Memorandum to Secretary of Defense through Secretary of the Navy: REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE IN FUNDING FISCAL YEAR (FY)-19 HURRICANE REPAIRS did Feb 19 2019 1. Mr. Secretary, I am writing to seek your assistance in rectifying FY-19 budget shonfalls forthe Marine Corps. As you know, the Marine Corps faces fiscal challenges without precedent. Tle inability to reprogram money and the lack of a supplemental for Hurricane Florence damage is negatively impacting Marine Corps readiness. While FY-19 was supposed to be a “good year” given an “on-time enacted budget and higher topline, those positive attributes are now overcome by the negative factors below, imposing unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency. The decisions outlined in paragraphs 4 and 5 are difficult, and likely to gain the attention of both Congress and the press, but are nonetheless the types of har! decisions the Marine Corps must make to mitigate fiscal pressures in FY-19. The following are the unplanned and unbudgeted factors now defining FY-19: a, Hurricanes Florence and Michael b. OMMC Congressional mark just prior to the FY that includes significant reductions apportioned to ‘Marine Reserve funding for multiple unit activations in support of the Global Force Management plan ¢. Unplanned/unbudgeted Southwest Border Operations 4. Unplanned/unbudgeted Dynamic Force Employment (DFE) ©. OSD(P) directed, but unfunded force increase to Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) £.Unplanned/unbudgeted Congressional mandate for aqueous free-forming foam (AFFF) upgrade £ Unplanned/unbudgeted basic allowance for housing (BAH) adjustments to privatized housing h, Unplanned/unbudgeted civilian pay raise i. Border security funding transfers, especially with respect (o impacts on general transfer authority 2. As highlighted in the enclosed 19 Feb 2019 memorandum to the acting Secretary of Defense through you, “[t)he effects of internal funding will rapidly accelerate throughout the rest of the Marine Corps as ‘we realign funding of exercise plans, unit training, equipment readiness accounts, and investment accounts.” That assessment, from less than one month ago, was made given the assumption that we would be able to realign funding to rebalance risk to address the unplanned/anbudgeted conditions listed above through the regular order practice of above-threshold reprogramming. However, itis becoming increasingly unlikely that we will be able to reprogram funds in year of execution.

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