Marcy Kaptur

I'm grateful for our partnership across our committees to ensure that the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces have the tools they need to keep our country safe both at home and abroad.

I thank you both for the opportunity to testify before your committee today as a member of the Defense Appropriations Committee.

I urge the Committee to support critical federal investments in regional economic development by reauthorizing the Economic Development Administration.

I'm not sure. But we'll talk with Congressman Quigley and others who have expressed an interest in this.

I would urge your department to identify places in America that have fallen behind and to work extra hard...

The Department of Energy's budget request is paramount to ensure America's energy independence, because energy security is national security.

We believe that we voted for sufficient funds, and perhaps we need to have a conversation with the Governor of Illinois.

I fault all of the agencies for not working together because Congress does not have a complete picture of this, and it is very, very serious.

Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine crystalizes how essential a comprehensive energy strategy is to our Nation.

Energy security is national security.

We need to manage manure in a much better way and make it a product.

I think we need a separate title in the farm bill to deal with Lake Erie's Western Basin because it is so sick.

As all of us contest, there are a few issues more important to the quality of life for our servicemen and women, their families, and their communities than healthy living conditions and assured access to clean drinking water.

I would appreciate the update on the work of the Department's PFAS task force, including efforts to mitigate and eliminate the use of the current aqueous film-forming foam.

Addressing the problem with PFAS has been a growing area of focus for Congress, as reflected in the fiscal year 2022 defense appropriation bill.

We need to have a new program where we help to produce, for the civilian and military side, the behavioral specialists and neuropsychiatrists that we need.

I guess I am leaving this hearing more uncomfortable than comfortable in terms of our ability to ratchet up that repair work and to have the skills in place so that we meet those deadlines.

It is our responsibility to the American taxpayer to make sure that, you know, we do our best job to make sure that these things are coming together the way they should.

What can we do to hasten this so you can get the kind of Navy you want and America needs?

There is a human issue, and then there is a parts issue and a workforce issue.

Mr. Secretary, have we cut our public shipyards too deeply? If you look at the last 25 years, what is the reduction in public shipyards?

Thank you, gentlemen, for serving our country so nobly. It is deeply appreciated by myself and the people that I represent.

Thank you, Admiral. More than 10,000 in the public yards.

I appreciate very much the work of the Department in helping to review the case of a soldier who fought in Vietnam.

I just wanted to state for the record, in terms of Central Europe and Ukraine, bringing you back to the part of the country I represent, Cleveland, Ohio's sister city is Gdansk, Poland.