Madeleine Bordallo: “I just hope that Congress can rectify what has happened with the decrease in the budgets.”

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I hope you don't extract this from my 5 minutes, but there is a native of Guam in the audience today, and I am very proud of her.

I am concerned that in a year where readiness has been cited as the Department's top priority, the Department's budget request falls well short of meeting the total depot maintenance requirement for the Army and the Marine Corps.

I have long stated that just as important as it is to provide our service members with new, modernized equipment, we must fully maintain the assets that we already have.

If we are going to rebuild readiness, we need to ensure that the depot maintenance accounts are fully funded to meet the requirement.