Derek Kilmer

One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the past 3.5 years is that if we want things to work differently, we have to be willing to do things differently.

I can't emphasize enough how the processes and norms that we have developed along the way have been key to our success as a committee.

My plea is for more robust communication to the impacted communities.

I have been on this subcommittee for 6 years. I don't think we have had a hearing related to this subject where I haven't raised concerns about reduction in billets and reductions in services provided at Naval Hospital Bremerton.

I don't know what analysis is happening that is driving some of these decisions, but I am just concerned about the military families who actually need to make sure they are getting the services that they require.

Does the Navy still have a plan to divest over 5,100 healthcare billets?

I appreciate the Navy's goal of increasing readiness to counter threats from our adversaries like Russia and China.

I give the Army credit for adopting this new building material and constructing five hotels out of cross-laminated timber at installations across the U.S.

I think it does an excellent job encapsulating the problem we face today that the Army both contributes to and is threatened by, the extreme weather events caused by climate change.

I was pleased to hear both of you say very positive things about that, about the importance of that in terms of the capacity of the Navy to meet its mission.

A great example is the Building Civic Bridges Act, which is a bipartisan bill I recently introduced.

I think Schoolhouse Rock got it right when the little bill on Capitol Hill explained it started as an idea from folks back home who decided they wanted a law passed.

I have often joked that the name 'the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress' makes us sound like we are the IT help desk.

Twenty-four hours later, the Congress of the United States, Article I, is back and functioning with credible people chosen by the last person elected to represent the people.

Imagine a scenario, a horrible scenario, in which the Capitol gets hit during the State of the Union or the inauguration.

We have not only got the issue is the quorum valid, but we have got an issue of legitimacy.

If the balance of power changes... you now have a different majority than the people elected.

What constitutes a quorum.

We are not prepared. And we still aren't.

If your State has no Senators or no Representatives at a time of national crisis, you are not part of that representative government.

One of the issues of legitimacy in a representative government is do you have a representative?

It is important that we do tell this particular story so that we don't repeat our past.

I think these investments do pay off, and I also appreciate your just acknowledgement that this requires a coordinated approach.

I introduced a bill called the Puget SOS Act, which certainly it is funding, but also establishing a Puget Sound recovery national program office in the EPA.

Investing in restoring Puget Sound by addressing everything from persistent flooding and stormwater runoff to improving nearshore habitat...