There has been a lot of discussion about the impacts to the industrial base, both commercial and organic, caused by sequestration.

I call to order the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness.

If resources become more limited, how will you prioritize reset funds between the Active and Reserve Components?

How important are the HASC-provided increases in the FY14 reset accounts to your service? What are the impacts if that increase is not realized?

Increased risk means more men and women will die defending this Nation when we ask them to do so.

I would like to thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding. I have come to the floor many times this year to remind my colleagues that our Nation has no greater asset than the folks serving our Nation, including those who make up our…

I know it is a very tough time for the Navy family, and please let them know we are thinking about them and praying for them.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you, Representative Forbes. I want to thank you for your leadership in the Congressional Prayer Caucus and for taking the time to make sure we got together today to recognize the importance of today's date and the efforts by our…

Decline is a choice, and I believe this new plan willingly chooses to continue the slow, painful decline of robust American Seapower.

We cannot and will not stand idly by while the greatest, most powerful Navy in the world erodes for lack of funding.

Yes, sir. I would say that is a correct characterization.

How do maintenance and modernization correlate to a ship's ability to reach expected service life?

In light of the existing shortfalls in the FY13 O&M accounts, and the impacts of sequestration in FY14, what are your greatest concerns about the Navy's readiness?

If we can't do that, does that result in increased risk for our sailors?

I refuse to accept this.

This delicate balance is fragile, and without the needed maintenance and reset of the force, the Navy will be severely challenged to meet its training and operational commitments.

As the size of the Navy's fleet declines, and staffing levels at maintenance and training organizations feel added pressure from sequestration, what specific risks has the Navy identified that could hinder its ability to execute the…

To help improve the material condition of the fleet, the Navy has reorganized OPNAV offices, stood up new maintenance organizations, and partnered with the American Bureau of Shipping.

Given the current budget environment and limited maintenance resources, would you expect the Navy to defer or cancel additional availabilities in FY14?

In this scenario, with these deferred maintenance elements and with sailors being at sea longer... does that result in increased risk for our sailors?

I fear this will put you gentlemen in a damage control situation to maintain the fleet, leading to grave concerns for the readiness of the surface force.

So those maintenance availabilities are deferred. Ultimately, you could end up with ships sitting in port because they are not able to go to sea because they don't have systems that may be up to speed or that are capable of doing the job…

Navy witnesses have testified in recent years that they are turning the corner on reversing the negative trends in surface fleet readiness/maintenance, but needed more time to achieve the results.

There is currently a maintenance backlog for surface combatants due, in part, to the high operational tempo.