Madeleine Bordallo: “You mentioned civilian reductions of 7,000 across DOD yet the Air Force reports that they have nearly 16,000 civilians…”

I think it is fair to ask if the Army is, in fact, just creating more overhead that will further slow an already cumbersome process.

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.

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.

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.