John Ensign: “Senator Byrd has offered an amendment virtually identical to a piece of legislation that I brought forward because he…”

“Senator Byrd has offered an amendment virtually identical to a piece of legislation that I brought forward because he has the same concerns I have. When I took over the chairmanship of the Readiness Subcommittee, the staff briefed me on various hearings that they do traditionally during the year. One of the hearings, the information that we got at the hearing, this piece of legislation was trying to address. It was the reason I drafted it, because I had literally the identical concerns Senator Byrd has raised today. Nothing he has said have I disagreed with. This happened last year. We used to have one of these hearings a year. I have actually stepped them up to every 6 months. We have a hearing tomorrow in the Readiness Subcommittee on this very issue, as well as others on the business transformation for the military. The military is a huge bureaucracy that none of us have our arms around. The military doesn't have its arms around its own bureaucracy. There are incredible inefficiencies. The problem is, you get one person in; they are there for a year, maybe two. They say they are going to be making changes. They have been promising to make changes for years. And then nothing happens. Last year, I was ready to proceed with my legislation. I met with Secretary England, and he asked me for 1 year. He said: Give me a year. I am new in this position. Give me a year.…”