Rodney Frelinghuysen: “I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding, and for his leadership, and that of Mr. Dicks, as well. In preparation…”

“I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding, and for his leadership, and that of Mr. Dicks, as well. In preparation for this debate, the subcommittee held a lengthy series of hearings examining such varied issues as our operations in Afghanistan, the so-called pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, Army modernization, Navy shipbuilding, Marine end strength, and the Air Force restructuring proposals. Most of these issues relate, as the chairman has said, to mitigating risk in the Defense budget in what is called the ``new strategic guidance'' from the Department of Defense. It's what I would characterize as protecting our gains in the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as preparing for future and current threats, such as China's growing military capacity, instability in the Korean peninsula, civil war in Syria, Iran's pledge to close the Strait of Hormuz, and others. As you'll hear during this debate, the committee weighed in with its own options. As the chairman said, we pause the Air Force restructuring decisions. In light of the tyranny of distance that characterizes the Asia-Pacific region, we bolster the Navy's shipbuilding accounts and add back in a Virginia- class submarine and a Burke-class destroyer. Our goal here, and throughout the bill, was to provide the resources to support our warfighters now and in the future whenever the next crisis arises.…”