Roger Wicker

I've advocated device interoperability, along with a number of competitive wireless carriers operating in the United States.

I believe the Commission took an important and necessary first step.

I said the FCC needed to focus on broadband availability, while reigning in cost and remaining adequately responsive to the unique needs of rural America.

The American people are looking at us, they are looking to us.

This is a bill for the entire United States of America.

We need a bipartisan accomplishment in this Senate.

I expect that there will be an increasing number of veterans that will be diagnosed with PTSD.

Lieutenant General Mills, won't an improved AAV that will be in service for a long time together with the new ACV leave the Marine Corps with two different sets of amphibious vehicles and the associated higher costs of a mixed inventory?

How much money will actually be saved by cancellation of the EFV if the Marine Corps must extend the life of the AAV and design and build two new vehicles, the ACV and the MPC?

Lieutenant General Mills, does this mean that the Marine Corps will be operating two different combat vehicles during the land phase of an amphibious assault, the ACV and the MPC?

What is the timeline for designing and building the MPC?

The wind-up of the EFV is focused on harvesting relevant technology from the EFV program to transfer to the new ACV.

How much funding does the Marine Corps estimate will be required--or how much is available--for a SLEP?

What reassuring words can you give the subcommittee about what you've done to sustain the viability of these competitors in the manufacturing base?

How much additional life will the SLEP provide?

What has changed about the Navy-Marine Corps concept of ship-to-shore maneuver that makes the Navy more willing to bring marines closer to shore to launch the assault phase?

Do the Navy and the Marine Corps stand behind the requirement to conduct amphibious operations against a defended shoreline, or can requirements and costs be reduced to support landings in only uncontested areas--in other words, is the…

Questions Submitted by Senator Roger F. Wicker

Assuming we prevent sequestration, give us your best guess on the schedule for the Marine Corps to procure JLTV?

Is it accurate to say that now the requirements of the JLTV are stable?

What did we get out of our $3 billion on the EFV?

I'm gravely concerned that sequestration could disproportionately impact the Marine Corps on everything from modernization to readiness.

Lieutenant General Mills, how will the MPC get ashore if it doesn't swim as the EFV and the ACV would?

Given budget constraints, how confident is the Marine Corps that improvement of the amphibious assault capability may not be limited to a SLEP of the AAV?

Many supporters of the Marine Corps, including this Senator, were disappointed by the cancellation of the EFV, but we also understood that it was not a financially viable solution.