FY 2027 Budget for Military Construction and Family Housing

Good morning. The uh subcommittee will come to order. We meet today to discuss the President's fiscal year twenty twenty seven budget, uh request for military construction and family housing for the Department of Defense. I would like to begin by recognizing today's panel. Today we will hear from representatives of the military services as well as the office Joining us are the Honorable Dale Marks, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment. Lieutenant General Michelle Donahue, Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Logistics. Rear Admiral Timothy Brown, Director Logistics Division, Office of Chief of Naval Operations. Lieutenant General Steven Sklenka, Deputy Comm- Commandant for Installations Logistics who will be retiring shortly after thirty eight years of service. General, thank you so much for all you've done for our country. And, uh, we are very, very pr- very, very proud of you and appreciate, uh, you and your family's service. My dad did twenty years. I understand they are family affairs. So we appreciate you guys. Lieutenant Lieutenant General Kenyon Bell, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection who's joined with his family here also, which we welcome. Miss Catherine Colby, Space Force Assistant, Deputy Chief of Space Operations, Installations and Logistics. This year's MilKom request total is twenty eight point six billion, an increase of eight point eight billion above the fiscal year twenty twenty six enacted level, after years of persistent underinvestment in military construction, This request represents a generational investment towards rebuilding and modernizing our military footprint, from barracks to bomber infrastructure. Increased investment alone does not solve the underlying challenges in efficiently and effectively executing MilKom. We see a growing concentration of large projects and expensive increments in the requests which crowd out smaller but no less critical projects. We also continue to see cost overruns and schedule delays. I know the department has been taking a hard look at the inter at its internal processes to identify opportunities for improvement. And Congress has also done its part by enacting targeted authorities within our jurisdiction to help address those challenges. The new MilKom authorities enacted last year include Progressive Design Build, Other Transaction Authority, and alternate defense construction agent approaches. While it is still early to assess their effectiveness, I'm encouraged that the department is already taking steps to align policies and procedures with these new authorities. Separately, I'm concerned that several projects were requested within the mandatory portion of the budget, including two projects associated with the President's Golden Dome for America effort. I'm also aware of several new construction barracks projects requested in FSRM under the jurisdiction of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, rather than in MilKon. Given the uncertainty surrounding reconciliation, the unpredictable nature of FSRM, I worry about whether these projects will ultimately move forward as planned. Lastly, while this subcommittee has not received an official damage assessment for their Iranian strikes on our bases in the Middle East, we understand that assessments are ongoing. Even as those assessments continue, it is important we receive regular updates from the department and that any supplemental request includes funding for CENTCOM installations and support infrastructure to protect our troops and maintain a strong presence in the region. Some will argue that we should wait to rebuild until we have a full accounting of the cost. and certainty of our future regional posture. However, any cost excluded from a supplemental will become a burden on future defense budgets and harm our near-term readiness in the region. Before we ret- before we turn to our witnesses, I would like to recognize my colleagues, colleague, Senator Ossoff, for his opening remarks.

Thank you so much, Mister Chairman,

Thank you.

and good morning, good morning, all. Uh, thank you to Uh, Chairman Boozman and his staff for their partnership, uh, looking forward to continuing the important bipartisan work we do on this subcommittee and thank you to each member of our panel for your service to the nation. This hearing comes at a consequential moment for our national defense infrastructure and for the future of military readiness across the state of Georgia and across the nation. Georgia remains one of the most critical defense states in the country. Our installations power projection, advanced training, cyber operations, logistics, special operations, strategic mobility, ship and submarine operations, and force generation across every combatant command. Georgia is home to thirteen defense installations, from Fort Stewart and Hone-Armea Field, home of the third infantry division, to Robins Air Force Base, home of the Air Force's premier sustainment and logistics hub, to Moody Air Force Base, supporting combat search and rescue. close air support missions to fort gordon the center of excellence for cyber and signal operations to naval submarine base king's bay which supports our nation's sea-based nuclear deterrent georgia installations are indispensable to american national security the fiscal year twenty twenty-seven military construction request includes substantial investments across the department totaling more than twenty eight billion dollars in discretionary military construction and family housing funding with a separate request of an addition two point seven billion in mandatory reconciliation funding submitted on top of the base request. And while I appreciate the department's heightened recognition of the importance of long neglected infrastructure, I remain concerned that the fiscal year twenty-seven president's budget once again underfunds critical quality of life and readiness requirements at several Georgia installations and across the globe. I was pleased to see that roughly two hundred and sixteen million dollars for projects at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany and Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, supporting critical communications, infrastructure, the future Columbia-class submarine mission, and our nation's strategic deterrence, all projects I previously pushed to advance and support through design funding were indeed requested in the President's base budget. Georgia installations and many others across the world continue to face major military construction and quality of life needs, including child development centers, barracks modernization, military, family housing improvements, maintenance facilities, infrastructure resilience projects, operational support facilities, and military working dog infrastructure. At Robins Air Force Base, workforce growth and mission expansion continue to outpace infrastructure investment, particularly in areas supporting depot maintenance, family support services, and child care capacity. long-standing concerns regarding military working dog facilities and other mission support infrastructure remain insufficiently addressed, despite clear operational and quality of life impacts. At Fort Gordon, the Army's cyber mission continues to expand, but installation infrastructure has not kept pace with the demands of training, classified operations, and workforce support. At Fort Benning, I remain concerned that several significant military construction requirements supporting readiness, Barracks modernization and quality of life needs were omitted, not only from the fiscal year twenty-seven President's budget request, but also from the future year's defense program and the Army's unfunded priorities list. When critical infrastructure at one of the Army's premier forced generation installations fail to appear in any formal budget or planning document submitted to Congress, it raises serious concerns in my mind about prioritization and installation risk. I'm also deeply concerned by the department's increasing reliance on reconciliation requests to fund requirements that should have been included in the president's base budget submission. Reconciliation legislation is by definition uncertain and it's often partisan. Congress isn't under no obligation to pass a reconciliation bill. The government doesn't shut down if reconciliation fails. In fact, many years pass without any reconciliation package becoming law at all. But appropriations bills are different. They're fundamental to keeping the government operating and ensuring continuity of military readiness, military family support, and installation operations. So, when the department chooses to place critical military construction and family support requirements into a speculative and possibly partisan reconciliation proposal, instead of in the President's budget request submitted to this committee, it raises serious concerns about competence, planning, prioritization, and transparency. If a project is truly essential to readiness, deterrence, forced protection, or military family quality of life, then the department should have the confidence and discipline to request it through the regular appropriations process, not treat it as contingent on the uncertain outcome of a partisan reconciliation negotiation. This year the department sought billions of dollars in additional military construction and family housing funding through reconciliation mechanisms while omitting numerous projects from the president's base budget that installations and combatant commanders clearly consider priorities. Now this subcommittee has consistently worked in a bipartisan manner to address deferred maintenance, aging infrastructure, military housing shortfalls, child care shortages, and deteriorating facilities across the force, and we will continue to do so. And Congress will once again have to examine carefully where the department may have failed to request funding for projects that are plainly needed. Frankly, it's difficult to explain to service members and military families why projects deemed critical by the department were important enough to seek in reconciliation, but apparently not important enough to include in the actual president's budget request submitted to Congress. All that being said, I am pleased to see that the department is headed in the right direction by requesting a significant increase in funding for quality of life and infrastructure and family housing when compared to previous fiscal years. Historically, these priorities have been woefully underfunded, Existing infrastructure has often been neglected to the point of inoperability or safety hazards, and our backlog of requirements grows longer and longer. I hope to see this newly heightened focus on remedying military construction funding shortfalls will carry on in future fiscal years. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today, about how the department developed this year's request, why certain projects were omitted, how reconciliation funding decisions were made, and how the department plans to address critical unmet needs in Georgia and across the globe. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you again to our witnesses.

Well, thank you very much. Uh, Mr. Marks, you're recognized.

Well, Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Ossoff, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the President's fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget request for the Department of War's military construction and housing portfolios. Our installations are our foundational platforms for readiness. And unfortunately over many years, as you noticed, our enterprise has accepted cumulative risk in our facilities to prioritize near-term operational readiness. The bill for that trade is now overdue. The degraded state of our installations is no longer a future problem, it is a direct and present threat to our ability to project power, defend the homeland, and properly care for our service members. So the President's budget confronts this reality with a generational investment of eighty eight point five billion dollars in our facilities. Of this, we're requesting twenty six point eight billion for military construction, a four point one billion dollar increase over previous levels. Our highest priority w- within this request is for our people. Supported by twenty one point five billion dollars for unaccompanied housing our barracks task force is moving rapidly to ensure every service member has clean, safe and comfortable living conditions. And for our military families, Our dedicated housing deal team is actively digging into privatized projects, securing potential critical capital, and advising on ways to hold private partners strictly accountable. Beyond housing, this budget directly supports the national defense strategy. We're prioritizing critical infrastructure across the globe and we're delivering the specialized facilities required to field advanced capabilities, like Golden Dome, the F-forty-seven, the B-twenty-one, and our nuclear triad. Simultaneously, we cannot project power if our installations are vulnerable. We remain fully committed to installation and cyber defense, energy resilience, and our environmental obligations. We recognize these are significant requests, and we take our stewardship of taxpayer dollars seriously. To that end, I recently directed the department to implement new NDA authorities that many of you helped to drive to accelerate project delivery and drive down costs. By maximizing design reuse, eliminating unnecessary military unique checklists, and bundling procurements, we are fundamentally changing how we do business. We will be relentless in our execution, exhausting every authority to cut through red tape, change the culture, and deliver excellence. The challenges facing our military infrastructure are significant, but our resolve is stronger. The Department of War is committed to rebuilding our foundation, honoring our commitment to our people, and innovating for the challenges ahead. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you. Uh, Lieutenant General Donahue.

Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Ossoff, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Army's fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget request for military construction and housing. Our installations are the bedrock of Army readiness. They are the platforms from which our war fighters train, deploy, and defend our nation. To ensure these platforms can meet evolving missions and counter emerging threats, the army is taking a holistic and aggressive approach to facility investment. We are requesting four point two billion for military construction and housing and over this fiscal year, and seven billion to to specifically address the construction and renovation of our barracks. These historic investments will directly increase our war fighters' lethality, and quality of life for years to come. We recognize that the traditional military construction process often takes too long and costs too much. Over the last year, the Army has worked to cut unnecessary bureaucracy and deliver real change. For example, by adopting federal sustainability principles, instead of paying for third-party certifications, we are reducing administrative burdens and saving up to six percent on project costs without sacrificing quality. In addition, we are leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline the creation of our thirteen ninety-one which is reducing our cycle times by almost seventy five percent. We're also pushing the boundaries of construction technology. At Fort Bliss, Texas, we partnered with private industry to three D print the department's first barracks, cutting construction time from twenty four months down to nine, a significant step forward for the future of army construction. We're also capitalizing on alternate defense construction agent authorities to find efficiencies outside of the traditional MilKon process. Our recent project at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk serves as the prime example of this speed. Earlier this year, we transferred a thirty-five percent design from the Corps of Engineers to Army Material Command. Utilizing progressive design, build, and other transactional authority or an or or an OTA contract, AMC moved from that design transfer to a contract award in less than forty-three days. We are scheduled to break ground this July to build two transient barracks, a brigade tactical operations center, a brigade aid station, and a pump house. This project proves that the army is committed to embracing new technology, to construct faster, cheaper, and smarter, delivering more for our soldiers without simply paying more. Taking care of our soldiers and their families remains our number one priority. We've strengthened our oversight of family housing and are completing third-party inspections across our entire inventory. For the single soldiers, we are empowering garrison commanders to take immediate action including moving soldiers off post if living conditions are ever unacceptable. Predictable resourcing is absolutely essential to modernizing our army installations, maintaining our war fighters' edge, and ensuring the well-being of our soldiers and their families. We are grateful for this committee's enduring support in the shared mission. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you. Uh, Rear Admiral Brown.

Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Ossoff, distinguished members of the subcommittee. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the critical role our installations and infrastructure play in developing, generating, employing, and sustaining the Navy in joint force. It is an honor to appear before you and a privilege to represent the sailors and Navy civilians serving at our seventy installations worldwide. As we meet here today, it is worth remembering that eighty-four years ago this month, in May of nineteen forty-two, the Navy came to a critical realization. victory in the pacific would not depend not simply on combat power but on the nation's ability to sustain it across vast distances recognizing that operations only move as fast as the infrastructure that supports them the navy fundamentally rethought its shore footprint and in response invested in dry docks repair facilities logistics networks and advanced bases required to sustain fleet operations across the pacific theater those proactive investments enabled and sustained the grueling island-hopping campaigns and ultimately help secure victory in World War Two. Today, anticipating infrastructure requirements remains a fundamental pillar of national deterrence and war fighting lethality. Just as the Navy adapted its logistics enterprise to support a new way of war, nineteen forty-two, we must continue to modernize our installations and shipyards to support distributed operations, unmanned systems, and advanced cyber and counter-UAS capabilities. Securing the logistical capacity to meet these emerging challenges is not merely a support function, it is the essential foundation that ensures the Navy and joint force can operate effectively and sustain combat power in an increasingly contested environment. Recent actions in Operation Epic Fury underscore the importance of our ability to deliver naval combat power when required. Our naval logistics enterprise, including our installations and infrastructure, is fundamental to addressing the strategic challenges outlined in the National Defense Strategy. Now it's m- w- noted that navy's total mil con and fsrm requirements far exceed available resources however with strong congressional support we are prioritizing infrastructure investments to maximize operational readiness improve quality of life for our personnel and their families so i'd like to thank you for the three hundred and seventy five million provided in fy twenty six for unaccompanied housing which will enable the modernization and restoration of six major facilities and improve conditions for our sailors living on our installations As the CNO has emphasized, the fleet's ability to deploy, persist, and fight forward begins on our piers, ranges, training facilities, and in our maintenance activities, whether through quality of services initiatives like No Sailor Will Live Afloat, resilient installations, modernized shipyards, logistics hubs, or cyber secure infrastructure, our shore infrastructure is not simply supporting infrastructure. We view our installations and infrastructure as weapon systems foundational to the Navy's ability to generate and sustain combat power around the globe. In closing, your continued trust, support, and leadership are essential to advancing a ready and resilient Navy and joint force, to maintain peace, respond to crisis, and when required, fight and win decisively in conflict. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Uh, Lieutenant General Sklenka.

Hey, uh, Chairman Boozman, regular member Osman, and uh, or Ossoff, I apologize, sir. Uh, and uh, uh, distinguished members of this subcommittee. First, I want to say chairman thank you very much for the kind words and specially directors of my family it has been an honor wear this uniform for the past thirty eight years so thank you and i also appreciate the the opportunity to speak to this this subcommittee regarding your marine corps military construction uh projects as well as our facility sustainment actions and on behalf of the commonwealth and marine corps i also wanna thank this subcommittee for the continued support to our families and our marines it it has made a significant difference thank you very much this year's budget uh request it includes one point four billion dollars for the marine corps's military construction program and that supports our our ongoing actions toward setting our bases and stations for potential conflict with the with a particular emphasis on the pacific theater we all know in this room that our bases and stations are no longer the administrative garages and sanctuaries that they once were these are these are war fighting platforms today and and they're the first layer of contested uh terrain in our in a global conflict And I'm not just referring to our bases and stations that are overseas. I'm talking about the ones here in the continental United States that are still vulnerable to non-kinetic effects, non-kinetic effects that are just as consequential strategically and just as disruptive as any missile or drone. We witness this reality daily at our gates when we've seen increased uh numbers of UAS incursions increased numbers of unauthorized attempts uh to access our bases by foreign nationals and daily cyber attacks against our daily infrastructure. The discussions surrounding MilKom, uh, and - and facilities modernization as we're seeing is, it's no longer a garrison conversation about infrastructure management. This is a war fighting conversation. And it's a war fighting conversation about operational readiness and our overall strategic posture. Our bases and stations, they're the primary logistical hubs from which we generate forces and from which we generate readiness. They enable what I refer to as the three principal moves that are inherent to any military operation, the first being the uh mobilization and deployment of that force second being the rapid closure of a combat credible force and the third is the sustainment of that force our bases look through the launch pads the nodes the bedrock that make all those moves possible and and uh our ability to execute these three principal moves it depends on having a ready force capable of executing operations in any number of of situations and environments to that end our course number one facilities priority remains as it has for the last two years our barracks twenty thirty. It's the quality of our unaccompanied housing that that proves to be the key readiness driver in our portfolio. And this year's budget uh requests would inject nearly seven billion dollars into our barracks' sustainment and modernization actions that that would jumpstart our program and deliver on our promise to our Marines uh uh the the housing that they deserve while they prepare and rehearse for potential combat operations every day. Our bases, airfields, ports, fuel farms, warehouses, barracks, all of those associate infrastructure what translate strategy into operational reality. Our installations, they enable strategy. Your investment in in uh those installations is direct investment in deterring potential adversary aggression. We remain extremely grateful to the subcommittee for your partnership, and I look forward to your to your questions.

Uh, thank you. Lieutenant General Bell.

Good morning, Chair Boozman, Ranking Member Ossoff, distinguished members of the subcommittee. I'm honored to appear before you today to discuss the fiscal year twenty twenty seven Air Force military construction program. I'm here on behalf of the airmen who build, sustain, and power the world's most lethal and ready Air Force. I would like to begin by thanking this subcommittee for your steadfast support of our nation's Air Force and the military construction funding you have provided. As the national defense strategy makes clear, we are in a defining era of strategic competition. Our adversaries understand that American military power depends on the infrastructure that enables it. Our installations are not just bases. They are the power projection platforms from which we generate air power. We cannot fly, fix, fight, or win without secure, sustainable, and ready bases. This fundamental truth drives every requirement we develop, every dollar we program, and every project we build. Today, I want to emphasize how the Air Force is tackling two foundational priorities, ready airmen and ready infrastructure. This year's FY twenty-seven budget request aims to aggressively improve the quality of life for our service members and their families while building essential infrastructure for the next generation of war-fighting capabilities. Undoubtedly, our airmen are the foundation of our Air Force. We must ensure our airmen and their families have clean, comfortable, and safe homes so they can come to work rested, rejuvenated, and focused. To that end, we are planning to execute the largest investment in unaccompanied housing in over a decade. For FY twenty-seven we are planning two point seven billion dollars for dormitory renovations and repairs while also investing one point three billion to correct deficiencies in military family housing. Additionally, we are deliberately targeting child development center capacity shortfalls, ensuring our warfighters have the res- reliable child care they need to remain focused on the mission. Second, the FY twenty-seven budget request represents a unique opportunity to both transform readiness and modernize the force to keep our competitive advantage. The Department of the Air Force is nearly doubling infrastructure investment by requesting a generational investment, eleven point one billion dollars in military construction and fourteen point three billion for facilities sustainment restoration and modernization. Over fifty percent of our MilKom budget request is dedicated to new mission bed-downs including the B-twenty-one Raider the F-forty-seven and Sentinel, the largest and most complex weapons system acquisition program the Air Force has ever undertaken. Furthermore, we are aggressively leveraging new authorities provided in the FY twenty-six NDAA in order to decrease execution timelines, reduce costs, and deliver these mission-critical facilities at the necessary speed. The design funding requirement in this request is the key to unlocking these new authorities. Without the full design funding request, we cannot execute at the speed Congress expects of us. Whether we are constructing facilities for the B-twenty-one or modernizing a dormitory, We are laying the foundation for combat readiness that allows these weapon systems to be delivered on time. In closing, the Air Force's continued partnership with this subcommittee's members and your dedicated staff is essential to the modernization of our assets, the safety of our installations, and the welfare of our airmen and their families. Thank you for your continuing oversight, leadership and support. I look forward to your questions and today's k- discussion.

Good. Thank you. Miss Kolbe.

Good morning, Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Ossoff. and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the United States State Space Force for our fiscal year twenty twenty-seven military construction budget request. The Space Force came into existence as a separate service six years ago but space has been part of the joint force and has played a key role in our national security for much longer. Our guardians serve alongside soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, assuring that every element of the military can operate with confidence, support supported by resilient space capabilities. The nature of space as a war-fighting domain requires constant vigilance and innovation, not only in our operations, but also in the development of resilient infrastructure and installations that ensure our personnel and systems remain protected and mission-ready in any circumstance. The Space Force must grow to meet the demands of emerging threats and new mission requirements. And it is essential that our infrastructure and installations scale and modernize in concert with the force expansion, the introduction of advanced systems, and the rapid increase in space launch activity. Our installations are far more than workplaces. They are force projection platforms. From our home stations, the vast majority of guardians conduct uninterrupted operations, twenty-four seven, that ensure space superiority and support the joint force worldwide. Sustaining and advancing our space superiority requires a deliberate long-term investment in the infrastructure and installations that underpin our operations. By modernizing existing facilities, constructing purpose-built platforms, and leveraging new MilKom authorities to streamline design and construction, we will ensure that our capabilities remain resilient and ready to meet both today's mission requirements and the challenges of the future. The FY twenty-seven Space Force budget request includes approximately two point two billion in focused military construction, funding to deliver resilient, purpose-built facilities to ensure that our guardians have the infrastructure necessary to maintain uninterrupted operations, and to protect our nation's advantage in space. The request allocates one point four billion for new mission capabilities including one billion for combatant command support, and approximately four hundred million for space launch support facilities. The request also includes eighty-one million for minor military construction, and six hundred and seventy million for facility design. We are grateful to Congress for expanding MilKom authorities in the FY twenty-six National Defense Authorization Act, and for your support, with two hundred fifty-nine million for Space Force MilKom in the FY twenty-six Consolidated Appropriations Act. Thank you, Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Ossoff, and members of the subcommittee for your time and thoughtful consideration, as well as your leadership and strong advocacy and support for the United States Space Force.

Thank you. Uh, let's start with our questioning then. Uh, as I mentioned in my opening statement, the budget request represents a generational investment in MilKom and begins to address a long-standing backlog of critical projects. Certainly we are very supportive of the department's effort to make those needed investments. At the same time, we've seen from the house mark, uh, which includes a significant reduction to the department's request, I think immediately due to input from people like yourselves and, and um, they understood that they were underfunded and, and, you know, needed to bring things up, but General Bell, let's begin with you, and then I'd like to hear from Admiral Brown. If in fact that were to be the case, from your perspective, where would reduced Melcon uh funding create the greatest operational infrastructure and readiness risk within your service and which priorities would be most affected if these projects are delayed or not funded?

Chair Boeseman, thank you for the question. Um, as you know, our entire budget request is gonna get after both the quality of life for our airmen as well as for our mission requirements. We've got uh several new mission efforts that are ongoing right now. Uh part of the request this year and the generational investment that we're asking for, there's two point seven billion dollars that are tied into planning and design and that it's company needs to be accompanied with the construction. Different from years past in which sometimes that lump sum amount for the planning and design may sometimes get shaved off. If we don't have the entire amount for the planning and design to accompany the construction we may fall short in being able to execute the FY twenty-six NDAA new authorities those other transactional authorities require that both the planning and design as well as the construction dollars marry up so that we can see reduced cost and reduced time line moving forward.

Very good. Uh, Ad- Admiral Brown.

chairman thank you for the question uh from a navy perspective from a prioritization standpoint you know we go to the fleet commanders navy requirements and it's a basically one-to-end list from a prioritization standpoint so uh to echo my colleagues comments we really need the full funding measure for that however given the potential of a reconciliation not happening we are fully committed to executing that prioritized list in order but would need to obviously come back for assistance on how to re-wicker that funding. And I would defer to my colleague at the end of the table, Honorable Marks, for any additional detail on that. But the Navy is fully committed to executing the budget as directed to meet our mission requirements.

Um, well, let's talk to Honorable Marks. We do appreciate you very, very much. Um, let's talk a little bit about barracks. I understand that request includes several barracks, projects and FSRM. Please correct me, but I believe that these are all on the mandatory side of the request and these projects are a mix of uh repair by replacement and new construction. There is existing authority for the department to use FSRM for repair by replacement. However, there is no authority to use FSRM to construct new barracks, that is MilKom. Further, I understand those new construction projects were pulled from the department's future years. uh, defense program as part of the budget process. Uh, we're concerned that we need several dominoes to fall for these barracks to happen, uh, including passage of another defense reconciliation bill and new construction authority. If that doesn't happen, then these projects are a severe risk, and that has a direct impact on our service members. So, uh, Mr. Marks, I, am I accurately kind of summing that up and then uh what would be the impact of on quality of life and readiness if those barrack projects are not funded this year in such a scenario how does the department intend to prioritize and reinsert these projects into the milcon pipeline in future budget cycles that's a lot but it really is important

it it it really is senator and i appreciate your constant support for all of these things that we're trying to do as you know with the barracks task force it is to roll that out with with the um not only a great sense of urgency, uh, but a sense of commitment, uh, to get after this. As the secretary has said, " We're going to fix this." Uh, and he has been very clear to us to continue to keep the pressure on, to use every authority, uh, every ability to construct, uh, every new technique that we possibly can. And so we're not doing, uh, construction out of that FSRM. We are doing replace for improvements. Uh, we're trying to, uh, make sure that we are getting after the problem sets, using every, every dollar to its max extent. possible using new techniques, modular design, regional approaches. And so, really what we're trying to do is accelerate uh that that uh under-investment that we've had uh that allows us to continue to move this forward. Uh, as I look uh to my partners down at the table, uh first and foremost was just to get after the problems of how do I repair and bring the quality up move people out as has been mentioned and take care of those problem sets now it's let's get focused on how I get the newest of the the buildings uh designed, take down the ones that we can no longer afford, and then regionally be able to uh take scale and move that to a larger and faster way. And so the latitude that we're looking for in terms of our funding is really to be able to to use all of those authorities as quickly as possible as broadly as possible so that we can solve that problem and bring up the quality of life as quickly as possible.

Very good. Well, we certainly want to help you.

Yes sir, I we appreciate that.

Thank you. Um. Listen, Ross.

Uh, thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you again to our witnesses, uh. Lieutenant General Bell, I'd like to begin uh by discussing our work together uh at Moody Air Force Base. Um, as as you're well aware, Moody is preparing for the future bed-down of the F-thirty-five. And uh, I've been working closely now for years with the Air Force and with the local community, with um, Doctor Lucy Green and and Mayor Matheson. uh, to prepare the local infrastructure, uh, and to accelerate the arrival of the aircraft. Can you please update the committee on what infrastructure and facility improvements are already underway at Moody? Uh, what additional military construction or support requirements remain unfunded or unmet? Uh, and I'd also like your, uh, commitment, uh, general to, uh, continue working with me, uh, and the community down in Valdosta, uh, to expedite all necessary preparations to insure those aircraft can uh uh come as swiftly as possible and be prepared to defend the nation from moody air force base. Thank you, General.

Thank you, Mr. Ossoff. Thank you for that question. As you know, first of all, thank you for the design funds that you've been able to give to us for the F- thirty-five, uh, simulator training there at Moody. Moody is a consequential base for us with multiple missions that are going on there. As you know, the A-ten has been extended there, but F- thirty-five coming soon. seven dif- seven different projects are planned throughout the FIDEP for uh Moody in the realm of the F thirty five. Uh we are committed and I will commit to you to ensuring that we prioritize those uh those the infrastructure as it is planned out through the FIDEP to make sure that it is ready for when the uh when the F thirty five arrives there.

Thank you very much, Jen, we're looking forward to continuing to work with you uh on that, and I wanna discuss uh Robin's as well. as you're well aware headquarters for the air force reserve command and the warner robins air logistics complex providing absolutely essential logistics maintenance and combat support capabilities uh something georgians are are deeply proud of it's the largest single site industrial complex in georgia employing a workforce of nearly twenty two thousand civilians contractors and service members but i am concerned general by the lack of funding for quality of life projects that support those tens of thousands of personnel uh there are significant challenges with child care capacity uh and aging infrastructure uh but i noticed that a new child development center project at robins was placed on the unfunded priorities list instead of being included in the budget request so lieutenant general bell given the historically high funding request for the air force this year why was this project not prioritized in in the baseline budget request

Ranking Member Ossoff, again, I appreciate uh your interest in and this particular question. As you stated, uh Robins Air Force Base and the ALC there is critical. I've spent a significant time within the Air Force Sustainment Center and understand the importance of that organic industrial base, uh for our Air Force. Um the the child development centers that you're referring to, of course they are extremely critical to in order for us to to be able to do the jobs and make sure that the members go to work. with a comfort level that knowing that their children are taken care of. Um, in this particular situation, we certainly were constrained in our resources. There is one CDC that made the existing budget. Um, and that of course is, is a challenge for us. I am committed to you with working forward, working as we go forward to make sure that the CDC there at Robins gets prioritized as it should.

Well, I appreciate that commitment and, and y- you just put it very well, uh, in, in order for uh the the service members this facility to uh do their jobs uh and to uh have uh confidence their families are cared for we need these child development centers uh to be built and so i look forward to working with you general to try to uh accelerate the uh the construction of this important facility

yes sir

at robins redmond brown like to discuss uh naval submarine base king's bay uh as it prepares for the arrival of uh the columbia class submarines uh georgia is uh incredibly proud to host this facility one of only two primary bases uh for uh nuclear powered submarines in the country the east coast home for the ohio class submarine force preparing for the columbia class fleet one of my top priorities and has been now for several years working with you and your colleagues to make sure we are appropriately investing in king's bay to prepare it for the equipment and the missions uh that are coming i was pleased to see that uh two projects related to that effort uh are in budget but recognize there's still much more work to do. So, uh, Admiral, can I have your commitment to work, uh, directly with me and the subcommittee, uh, in order to accelerate and expedite all necessary investment and preparation so that, uh, Kings Bay can be fully prepared to accept the new Columbia-class submarines?

Senator, thank you for that question, and absolutely. You know, as you know, Kings Bay is extremely important to the Navy and the transition to the Columbia-class submarines is a key priority for us. and as you noted the fy twenty seven mil con request for king's bay includes the two vital projects that you mentioned that are interconnected and provide that foundational infrastructure for generational transition to the columbia class the first of which being the protection transit protection program facility at a cost of four hundred and ninety one million that will replace the nineties era infrastructure with a modern complex that includes a new pier small craft birthing breakwater and fueling stations and these will ensure the secure transit of ohio and columbia class submarines by providing reliable support for essential escort vehicles. the second of which will be that trident refit facility, two hundred and sixty-four million, that ensures that we can meet the increased capacity and requirements of the columbia class as well. and we have additional projects that will be in the out years of the fit up. and you absolutely have our commitment to continue to get after that.

thank you so much i got a few more questions for members of the panel but respecting other members uh time mister chairman i'll yield now

uh senator Hoeven

thank you mister chair uh appreciate all of you being here uh general bell thanks for the opportunity to visit i uh appreciate very much uh in president president trump including in the budget two hundred and thirty two million uh for the first two major sentinel projects at the only dual nuclear base in the nation minor air force base uh for uh security police uh including training facilities and also a very massive uh vehicle maintenance facility, because they have such a large footprint uh with the uh with the missile mission and of course with the missile and bomber mission, nuke dual nuclear mission, they have an incredible military police and security force there. But what I'd like to ask you is um what can we do to to um accelerate plans for land acquisition for new missile uh, silo construction as part of making sure that we do everything we can to not only keep, uh, the Sentinel program on track as far as the upgrade, but also, uh, do it as cost effectively as possible.

Sergeant Hovind, uh, thank you for the question and I also appreciate your time earlier this week, yes, uh, in having a discussion. Um, the Sentinel program and first Minot Air Force Base is critical to what we do. Uh, having been there and as we discussed, um, in February to understand truly the dynamics and the challenges they have there. As the Sentinel project moves forward, uh, with the restructuring that they've been doing right now and the recent decisi- decision to now need new silos, uh, I had a conversation with the DERPAM, uh, in discussion about the critical infrastructure and, uh, and they are committed to, uh, to reviewing the efforts to move things left as much as possible as they do the land acquisition. So we will work with you and this committee to ensure that uh as much as can be accelerated does get accelerated for this end.

Good. And the local community will will pitch in and help us do that, which will be a real a real benefit uh to the Air Force. On in regard to the Grand Forks Air Force Base, uh talk to me about the seventy-one million dollar pavement and maintenance facility that's included in the budget.

Sure. Uh, Senator, thank you for that. The the project that you just spoke about uh at Grand Forks, it is um it is on track. Um, there's no issues with that and I think you'll you'll find that that particular project should be moving along very smoothly within the five.

Talk to me a little bit about its purpose and importance.

Uh, well, Senator, that that base, first of all, Grand Forks, uh, is is essential to what to what we do as well. Um, that particular project is gonna make sure that we have that we incapture uh all the different equipment for that area, harsh environment there at Grand Forks, and we can't have the items that are necessary in order to be able to do that mission sitting outside.

Okay.

So to be able to do the - their mission at that location, that project is gonna be really important for them to be able to accomplish that.

Right. I - I understand and appreciate that. Um, thank you. Um, Ms. Kolbe, uh, also at Grand Forks Air Force Base there's funding for a two hundred and fifty million dollar, uh, Space Force Operations Center, one of four in the country. Uh, talk to me about the missions that would be formed at the Grand Force. uh the missions that would be performed at the grand force facility and how many people uh would be included.

Thank you, Senator Hoeven. Um thank you for your question. Uh the Space Force has requested in the MilKom budget um four highly classified, purpose-built, consolidated space operations facilities uh with the intent to geographically disperse um and create resiliency with our existing space advanced systems and missions but also um, to house new missions at these locations. Um, we anticipate that the proliferated warfighter, warfighter space architecture uh mission uh will go to Grand Forks, and the others uh will be determined.

And what about manpower?

Uh, we anticipate that we will be uh, these facilities will be housing approximately eight hundred guardians, um, working twenty-four seven continuous uninterrupted operations in support of our combatant commands.

Th- thank you. Uh, and then, uh, General Donahue, uh, the Jamestown Readiness Center facility is incredibly important, uh, for our Guard. They're often deployed Guard, just - just returning, uh, from the southern border. And they've been - I - I don't even know how many times they've been deployed, but many times. And they're operating out of an armory - basically out of the Civic Center. So that's a high priority project. Um, please talk to me about, uh, getting it done

sure we we share your uh support for this uh readiness center the readiness center is absolutely critical uh to that guards mission uh set there we uh i was told by the corps of engineers that we will have the thirty five percent designed this month and uh we will absolutely use all authorities there uh from a progressive design build uh to get after this project very very uh quickly and we

yeah and also the uh the training regional training facility camp grafton thirty four million touch on that

Yes, sir, so that one as well is uh already at about a hundred it's almost a hundred percent uh design and so uh we will look forward to uh working with you uh to uh to uh finish that project as well.

Yeah, we bring in guard soldiers from all over the country for extensive training there. It's tremendous, tremendous facility.

Yes, sir.

Again, thank you to all of you. Appreciate the incredible work you do. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Uh, Senator Baldwin.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all of our uh panelists today. Um, General Donahue, I'm gonna continue with you. I understand that the Army Reserve is facing a multi-billion dollar backlog in deferred facilities restoration and maintenance and I'm concerned about the impact of this backlog on um the impact it has on readiness um, not just for the reserve but also the active component given the critical sustainment and logistics capabilities that reside within the Army Reserve. How are you balancing the needs of the and reserve components in deciding how to allocate military construction funding in the this budget request and future year uh defense programs.

ma'am thank you so much for that question and uh thank you for all of your support at fort mccoy that is as you know one of our critical sustainment training uh grounds for all of our enablers uh within the army reserve um and again thank you as well for your support with uh all of the eight barracks projects uh and i am pleased to say that we are we are five of eight completed and uh and on track here to finish one here very shortly and then two more uh at the end of fy twenty seven so that barracks complex alone uh is critical to uh to the training there uh ma'am as you as you noted uh we we balance total force uh capabilities uh when it comes to um priorities with our uh infrastructure across the army um and as noted before we have a lot of infrastructure debt that we are trying to tackle and so the generational investment uh that we have uh will absolutely um help all components for the united states army

thank you and um can you provide additional information on how the army is planning to increase military construction investments for trading areas um narrowing down to fort mccoy but um for training areas and other related instra installations.

So ma'am yes we have three uh three more projects actually inside of uh the fight up right now uh to tackle uh to complete out uh the investment there at Fort McCoy to include an athletic field uh as well as three more barracks a gym and a water uh distribution uh facility and so we look forward to uh continue to partner with you on those efforts.

Thank you. Um and then uh uh general uh Uh, first of all, thank you for your long-standing service and congratulations on reaching this point nearing retirement. Um, I was glad to see that your military construction request, um, for the, um, Marine Corps reserves this year was over double that of last year. Can you speak to the importance of, uh, modernizing infrastructure for the reserves through the Barracks Twenty Thirty initiative? as well as how this will improve the quality of life for marine reservists during drill periods.

Uh, thanks, Senator, and and and thank you for the kind words. Uh, first and foremost, we make no distinction between reserves and and active duty in the Marine Corps. It's a total force. And they have our barracks, twenty thirty is not bifurcated between reservists and and active duty. It's a um, the the prioritizations that we make and are are one to endless, is that that we that we create. is based off of the total need of the for the need of the total force so um the i think the the most significant point in in that is the the message that's that is sent to our reservists that you know there is there is no distinction made the total forces there they're they're um they're uh as much a part of the fighting forces as one mef two mef and three mef and uh um they are um um either operating as as as entire organizations within those maps or uh augments as well but we make no distinction ma'am

ok and and uh in terms of that uh barracks twenty thirty initiative how will the marine corps sustain investments in your barracks rehabilitation over the years to come

uh well uh center the this subcommittee is the biggest is the biggest driver behind that in in many ways but also um in in our through our through our phys room cause cause the issue that we have right now is we don't really have a as much of a an inventory issue as we have a a a sustainment and and and readiness issue so the the uh the push that we have had and and i think you noted you you'll noted in in our in our budget request this year is we have a significant uptick in in a phys room uh request um which also enables us to conduct actions much more quickly than the than the the overarching uh MilKom process. But that's that I think really is more of a of a of a of a tangential um aspect of why we went with with with so much heavy with the phis room. Um what we're finding is um the the modernization requirements not necessarily requiring us to build brand new barracks we we have we have the facilities out there, really, we we can get after the repairs I think much more effectively and efficiently, and more quickly for our Marines.

Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.

Senator Murkowski.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. Gentlemen, ladies, thank you for for being here this morning, thank you for your service. Uh, uh, General Bell, I want to begin with you, you and I had a a a great meeting uh earlier this week um about the Air Force's investment in in Alaska through the uh the fighter town recapitalization project uh that is going to be moving forward on um uh what is currently joint base Elmendorf-Richardson um we are very pleased that the Air Force is um is focused so keenly on uh not only uh what today's needs are um but recognizing what the future will really bring and the very, very strategic role that JBAIR will will will play in defense of our c- in our defense of our homeland here. Um, I I would like you to take just a a moment to explain to the committee why this recapitalization effort um is so important to the Air Force, how it enables the various operational groups at JBAIR to provide for this air supremacy uh in the Indo-Pacific and and the Arctic. Because we are talking about a considerable investment. You used the uh the the term in your opening statements. This is a general uh generational investment that we're seeing with with the Air Force, but I think even more particularly so uh when it comes to to JBAIR. So if you can speak to this, please.

Sir Mikulski, thank you very much for the question, and I also appreciate the time uh earlier this week. Uh, great conversation and discussion um i having been stationed at jay bear um and with the location of jay bear it is a critical location for our overall uh arctic strategy and jay bear being a critical part of that arctic strategy the ability for us to do the fighter town recapitalization is vitally important uh there are there's a a a number a large number of this generational investment is gonna go into that uh fighter town recapitalization. Uh, as uh mentioned previously, in order for us to be able to do that investment, we need to be able to have both the construction dollars as well as the planning and design. And without both of those being married up, we will not be able to take full advantage of the NDA A, the twenty-six NDA A authorities, in order for us to be able to to plan out the built infrastructure in a very detailed fashion. So, uh, our ability to be able to recap is gonna be important for the Arctic strategy, in order for us to be able to do that. We want to take advantage of the FY twenty-six NDA authorities, some of which are already being utilized for the SpaceKom, for the F forty-seven at Nellis, and we wanna do the same for the Fightertown recap there in uh for the Arctic strategy at Jay Baer.

So effectively what what you will be doing is you you're taking dozens of of separate projects under a single authorization here and a and appropriation for, for efficiency and for really being able to to advance this in a way, um, uh, that will be important to the ability to execute on this, uh, recapitalization as quickly as needs be.

Senator, at a much more granular level, you're exactly right. Those details are really important in that one of the ways that we're getting after this is we have an entire one thirteen ninety-one one uh requirement with multiple uh projects that are underneath it and that goes to the new authorities for us to be able to get after this recapitalization there at JBAIR.

Got it. Thank you. Thank you for this and and for again the very keen focus. Um, I will note that I'm meeting with some folks from the municipality of Anchorage today. And one of the things that they want to speak with us about, uh, will be the, uh, the opportunities for the community, uh, but also, um, making sure that we've got good communication as we move forward. And, and on that, um, uh, Honorable, uh, Mister Marks, I'd like to ask you about the the energy issue which is is always front and center we can build buildings but um we also need to have our our local utilities be able to to meet the energy demand and what we are going to be seeing uh come into place there at j bear is going to be considerable the the power consumption just from the jITIC alone um they say like a fifty percent increase i'm excited about what is coming our way, what the Air Force is doing with regards to the Eielsen micro-reactor, um, a- as well as the Army's, uh, Project Janus moving forward in terms of nuclear energy. We're excited about that. Um, but in the meantime, in the short term, we have, uh, declining natural gas supplies in Cook Inlet, um, that are immediate. And until we can come up with some of the alternatives, whether it's small small nuclear or whether it's uh the opportunities that an Alaska natural gas pipeline can bring. Um, I fear about this energy gap here. So can you address um this issue, whether you're tracking the concerns about the declining supplies of natural gas and and whether or not your offices are actually doing anything to secure additional supplies of of natural gas um supply in Alaska.

So, Senator, thank you for that. You and I had some great conversations when we were in Alaska last year about this topic, and we continue to energize the system on that.

Yep.

Uh, a couple of things that we've, uh, certainly completed already. One of those was, was a request for a proposal to increase and use the authorities that we have through executive order on an on clean coal.

Mm-hmm.

So in the near term it was how do we revitalize, especially because as you know, JABIR and especially Eilson, uh, what their their dependency on coal is to ensure that we have an incredibly solid base load power generation. for today's mission and the ability to expand so that was that was priority number one let's get that under control and make sure that we're driving in the correct uh place the second uh i believe you're familiar of course with glen farn and the projects that are going on there with that so we have continued to register demand signals to say that as that continues to develop and they get their finances uh ready to go that we can also prepare for an offtake of that gas as when that pipeline can get built so we're driving in that and then uh you're aware the additional investments whether through ADAC and other locations, it's how we register that demand signal to ensure that we are working with industry, uh, that we can continue to expand the opportunities that are out there. I will also say that you and I shared about the investments that we're working on in other places of the country about things like gas turbines. So it's one thing when we talk about how do we make the grid more resilient and I, and we've been there, uh, certainly uh, we wanna make sure that we're making the investments in the in the product lines that are gonna make sure that we're there. Lastly, I just met with a team, uh, this week on uh advanced nuclear power. Those look good. We're uh we're moving towards uh critical uh with at least some of those. By the fourth of July, as I think you're aware. Um, but part of what we're also trying to to ask all of those purveyors to do is think about the next one, right, what are they making the investments in for what follows.

Mm-hmm.

So we get to critical, we produce electricity, now let's get to the next part of that. So we're we're continuing to drive that demand in the right direction. But again, thank you for your leadership and support on all of those things.

Thank you for that. Mister Chairman, I have a couple questions. uh for for general donna donahue uh about the fort wainwright uh dining facility as well as uh army corps um uh staffing issues but i'll submit those for the record and look forward to that and thank thank you each of you for your service

thank you senator fisher

thank you mr. chairman uh mr. marks i'm very disappointed that the department has chosen not to include a milcon request for a new laboratory for the pow mia accounting agency the dpa's current laboratory it offered is housed in a world war two bomber factory that needs to be demolished this agency has a sacred mission and that's to account for missing service members in part of a solemn commitment to this country that it makes to service members willing to give their lives for the defense of our country And failing to prioritize the constructions of the agency's new lab is really at odds with that commitment. Mr. Mark, since the DPAA is a defense-wide agency, it has a unique military construction prioritization. Will you commit to working with my office to ensure that the department understands this mission and the new laboratory is properly prioritized in future fiscal

Senator, absolutely. Um, so I've been to the one not only in Hawaii but also Adolph. Uh, very, very familiar. It is one of our most sacred, if not the most sacred mission that we do have. Um, and the director happens to be a personal friend of mine. We've spoken frequently about this. Um, I will, uh, absolutely commit to look not only into this, but I'll follow back up with you to ensure that we're putting a proper priority on it to the best of our ability.

Thank you very much. Also, sir, we're making some historic investments in weapons. production and many of our systems, equipment and munitions needs specific storage conditions. They shouldn't be left expo exposed to harsh weather or high humidity in places like Guam. Under no circumstances should we be filling our stocks piles with weapons that won't work when we need them to work because we didn't invest in proper climate controlled storage facilities. So how's the department coordinating internally to ensure that as we get these mu- new munitions or weapons systems produced, and how do we get those appropriate facilities both here at home and also abroad so that we c- can store them properly? I hate to travel on Kodels and view rusted equipment and rusted weapons. What a what a waste.

Senator, I think you maybe have been in my office on some of these talking points. So last year after I took the seat and in fact right after the last year when I testified before this committee I went back and said exactly the same things to my team and I asked the question what are we gonna do about the munitions. If I can produce everything the President has charged me to go do, what do I need to do? And then when I moved into the ANS deputy role that became even far more urgent. So uh we've actually put a task force together under uh ASW's sustainment their job and their task force was first and foremost to go out and survey and ensure we knew exactly what the state the as-is condition of all of our munition storage and what it was going to take first and foremost to bring everything back up to standard um so we wanted to get after that because i needed to go with that part of the construction the second piece was then to go out and look based against the demand signal we know we're producing and on the timelines we're working those on as i need to have the construction of those obviously done before the production ramp hits its highest point And so they're driving right now. We know that we're looking at at least five million square feet, more than that most likely, uh, that we need to be into construction on. And I have a study and a team working that task force uh with regular updates back to me uh in terms of what it's going to take and what investments we need to make to get after that problem set and I'd be happy to come back and share that with you as we can.

Great. You you mentioned a standard. I would hope that the standard takes into consideration the differences in weather. uh where all all of these uh facilities need to be built.

it is and and in fact it's standard uh not only for that it's where they're built to insure that the water and the treatment uh are proper um that our net explosive weights are all taken into account so that we're handling those properly but also uh that we're modernizing those as we build new because as you know weapons are changing uh the size of those are changing and so it's

yeah

insuring that what we don't have to do is that also from a from a if you will ergonomics the ability to put them in and out properly makes the most sense so that we're not having to jockey things around so all of those work into the design plan and we're driving very much on those.

great look forward to working with you on that uh general bell i appreciated our conversation yesterday on the importance of completing that flood recovery projects that we have it off it uh we have airmen and civilians that are working out of a building originally again built as a bomber

Senator Fischer, thank you for that question. Yes, the, of course, the floods that took place there were disastrous. The National Disaster Recovery Plan for Afit had seven different MilKom projects that were a part of them. Four of them are complete. Three more are still in work with an estimated completion of September of

OK. And that's for all three?

For, yes, ma'am.

Are they all on schedule?

Uh, I will come back to you and give you more details as to how they're, how they're doing.

OK, great. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Uh, Senator Ossoff.

Uh, thank you again, Mister Chairman. And, uh, Lieutenant General Sklenka, I wanna echo uh, the appreciation that's been expressed, uh, by the chairman and my colleagues for your decades of service and congratulate you on your upcoming retirement. Um, you, you are well aware, uh, that Marine Corps logistics base Albany, home of logistics command, is essential to the Marine Corps and to the nation. And in fiscal year twenty-three, I worked alongside the leadership of the installation and the Albany community to secure design funding for a new communications facility to more efficiently support the vital marine core logistics mission that communications facility is one of the highest priorities for the albany community and essential to the future of the installation uh and i am uh really pleased that the design has come to fruition that the project is now ready for major construction thank you for working with me. Thank you to the Marine Corps for working with me to years to advance, for years to advance this project. I want to remain as helpful as possible throughout the execution of construction. So what do you need from uh, this subcommittee to ensure the project is, is not just completed but also remains on schedule?

Senator Alsop, again, thank you very much for the, for the kind words. Um, uh, like I said, it has been an honor wear this uniform this long. Um, eighty-six million dollars, I believe, is, is what's going on at that facility. Um, the the importance of of of that depot for the marine corps cannot be overstated. It is the sole depot that we've got. It's got a uh an annex in Barstow and has a subordinate organization down in Jacksonville with our pre-positioning force. But what we're seeing is is an evolution with what uh Marine Corps Logistics base and and in particular the Logistics command is doing. They have a a uh they're they're not just an operation that's run out of uh out of Southwest Georgia. they have a reach that's deep into the indo-pacific significant actions the the uh work that we are doing with our our uh our global positioning network particularly in the philippines is being um run through uh the the logistics command right now and that that just highlights in my view the the the criticality of that communications facility that we are developing um the work that we are doing to ensure that we optimize the readiness for all of our and also for all of our it all uh gets centralized through our logistics command and and their ability to have real time all time communications with all of our operating forces um you know has has enabled us to take that logistics command. They're not a supporting establishment, they are actually as as much a part of the operational construct as any of our divisions wings or marine logistics groups center.

Thank you. thank you so much general and and let's continue working together to make sure that stays on time and uh i i greatly appreciate your your service congratulations again on your retirement uh general donahue i wanna raise some serious concerns uh about fort benning you know how important this facility is over one hundred thousand soldiers are trained every year at fort benning that's extraordinary uh home of the army maneuver center of excellence the armor school infantry school uh so much important work and and projects on post that we've known for years need to be prioritized advanced skills training barracks at camp merrill for example uh but but general despite the historic budget request for military construction as a whole uh uh i don't see fort benning uh getting the kind of prioritization and attention that it needs from the department and the administration. Um, in fact, Fort Benning has not received any military construction projects in this budget request, nor are any future projects listed, uh, in the UP L or on the FIDEP. So, why?

Senator, thank you for your support for Fort Benning, um, Colin Tooley, the Major General down there leading the Maneuver Center of Excellence is a is a very close friend of mine having just left the sustainment center of excellence just recently uh uh we do have right now um four of uh our barracks down there we are actually using the authorities from a repair by replacement perspective and so we are tackling that is almost a hundred million dollars in investment uh right now uh that are being put into uh those four barracks in addition to that um from an elementary school perspective i am tracking that uh doia is uh poised uh this year to uh award uh the replacement for the elementary school there we have uh r and m dollars as well to uh convert uh the old elementary school there into a c d c um and just recently i talked to uh general tooley about uh the establishment of a uh of an h two f campus uh the h two f mission our health and holistic uh fitness mission was just recently passed to him um and so and so he's going to stand up a a campus there that will use uh modern militar modern milcon dollars to get

thank you general and i i'm tracking and appreciate uh those other forms of the use of those authorities to try to uh get after some of the issues with the barracks have been working for years now for a replacement for dexter elementary that's really important uh for those families down there in columbus but uh but i just wanna highlight again that you know we know there are other infrastructure and milcon needs at the base there are no milcon requests from the army for fort benning we know for example that camp camp merrill needs visa upgrades so let let's just work together to make sure that uh this vital installation is not being taken for granted i know you care about it i know the army cares about it i know you care about it mister marks i'm just a bit concerned by the lack of attention in this year's base budget so we'll work together on that um let me uh uh raise some questions about how we're addressing a privatized housing uh general donohue it's been six years since legislation was enacted to provide more protection for military families living in privatized housing. You may be aware in in twenty twenty-two I led an eight-month bipartisan investigation into the mistreatment of military families in privatized housing on Post-it for Gordon, a shocking testimony from service members whose uh families had their health impacted in serious ways. We we wound up having the Balfour Beatty executives come up and testify under oath, uh was able last fiscal year, uh working with the chairman to secure additional funding in our bill for expanded oversight. tenants support and maintenance for privatized housing and yet uh as you're no doubt aware while there's been some progress and by the way i appreciate that after that investigation the army conducted those housing unit by housing unit inspections and started at fort gordon that mattered uh to the families on post there but we continue to hear uh troubling stories and reports from service members at installations across georgia across the south across the country about poor conditions in privatized housing, inadequate support from housing providers uh on installations in Georgia and nationwide, uh some of these abusive nondisclosure provisions uh that families are forced into. So, given that these issues persist, what is the Army doing uh to stay after this and make sure that we're not allowing any of these families to face mistreatment at the hou- at the hands of these housing providers?

Senator, thank you for that question. And first off, we will absolutely partner with you at Fort Bunning No doubt. Uh, and from a privatized housing perspective, um, I will tell you that also recently just talked to, uh, Ryan Janovick, the, uh, Cyber COE, uh, CG, also Senior Commander there at Fort Gordon. Um, and having been a senior commander myself, uh, engaged leadership, um, driving our housing partners to ensure that we are taking care of, uh, our army families is incredibly important to us. And so please know that. Um, we are putting, uh, we have put incredible oversight uh practices into place uh closely scrutinizing our leasing efforts uh with our privatized partners uh house to house inspections i mean i personally when i was a senior commander walking town halls where we would where we would partner with our privatized housing partner as well as our d p w where we would address maintenance uh on the spot we put q a practices into place whether it's in terms of construction renovation or uh even maintenance actions that are taking place and so to circle back to fort gordon Uh, General Janevick, uh, is, is actually very, uh, pleased with his partnership right now. I think, I think some of that came to, uh, came about, uh, due to the hurricane there. Um, and so the partnership I think stre- strengthened with, uh, with, uh, BBC. Um, we have about eighty-six more million dollars left of renovations there, to include new construction as well. And so we will absolutely continue to partner with you to make sure that we are, uh, supportive of all of our army family concerns with our privatized housing partner.

Well Thank you, General, and, and, you know, the, the, the issue as you know is not just at at fort gordon uh where i think we've made we've made progress but there's still a lot of work to be done um but it's it's it's and it's it's not just the army this is a department wide issue and it and it's you all know that when these young service members are having to deal with the stress that comes with their kids facing health issues from mold uh or uh their spouse is having to deal with the stress of getting necessary repairs that take weeks or months uh and and this feeling that they're treated by these housing providers like they don't matter uh you know it has a it has an impact on morale it has an impact on readiness so uh i hope uh general donahue and mister marks that we can continue working to address those concerns mister marks i wanna raise another issue with you um you know as uh as my staff and and subcommittee staff have uh uh been inspecting and visiting installations across georgia this year We pretty consistently heard that as a result of the deferred resignation program, uh, and the reduction in the, uh, civilian workforce, uh, that there have been serious losses in engineering, in housing oversight, service members' support, facilities maintenance, property management, uh, and we've heard first-hand that shortages in some of these crucial roles, I mean, just think about engineering, um, has caused delays in project design, It's caused cost increases on projects, delays in execution, lack of adequate oversight. So, first of all, are you, are you tracking and are you aware, Mister Marks, that, that one of the uh, negative unintended consequences of the DRP has been a loss of uh, folks in these roles and that that's negatively impacting the, the overall MilKom enterprise?

Senator, absolutely. And we've actually gone out to insure that waivers were provided so that installations and the services could hire to all of those skill sets. There is a dramatic lack of skilled trades across America, as I'm sure you're well aware of. We are currently in America two point nine million jobs short in skilled trades. And so what the department is doing right now is preparing to roll out some pretty significant investments not only in the skilled trades to address those issues, but across the entire defense industrial base, uh, so we can work with our STEM partners, our skilled, uh, with our universities, uh, with our trade schools, uh so that we can actually reinvigorate that process in the meantime it is to insure that we have the waivers the authorities and the incentives to uh bring in as much of that talent as we possibly can as quickly as we can to address those issues

well i i appreciate that acknowledgement mister marks and i know this is uh not your policy decision but i i think it's it's a i think it's a self-inflicted wound to have taken a a a sledgehammer to uh the workforce in such a way that we've driven out people who are in these important roles that help these installations understand uh how much it's gonna take how long it's gonna take to to build these important projects so what i what i'd like to ask you to do is to to get back to the subcommittee with a report on how many uh individuals working in engineering in housing oversight in service member support uh in and in facilities maintenance in each of those roles or skill sets how many uh were lost as a result of the, you know, so-called fork in the road DRP, uh, policy. Will you please get that information to the subcommittee?

We'll follow up with you, Senator.

And you'll get that information to us?

I will, yes, sir.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Um, Senator Hyde-Smith, I'm really, uh, disappointed. I was hoping to sneak over to your She had a, she's chair of the, the Transportation Subcommittee. tea hut and uh i was hoping to sneak over her again the trouble now we have is there's so much going on all of these are running concurrently but she's a lot more efficient than i she got done and was able to come over and and participate here so

we had a good hearing

uh

thank you mr. chairman so

very good

and you thought this was almost over till i slipped in the door i'll be brief secretary marks the uh us army intern engineer research and development center over in vicksburg mississippi that we refer to as ertic it supports core department of defense missions houses one of the department's major supercomputing capabilities and manages the dod high performance computing modernization program big words that supports advanced modeling the simulation the artificial intelligence and weapons development efforts across the force Vicksburg was recently told Ertig is ineligible for the Defense Community Infrastructure program because of Office of Local Defense Community Corporation has reportedly determined it does not qualify as a military installation for DCIP purposes. Mister Secretary, please explain how the department is interpreting that definition and whether you believe facilities like Ertig should qualify for DCIP's support.

Senator, thank you, and the Arctic is vital. Uh, and the work that it does is incredibly important and the people there, uh, knowing what they do and the work that that does and how it helps us, especially through the Army Corps, is vital to our mission and I appreciate that. We've gone back and asked old DC, we've contacted our general counsel as well, and there's a couple of statutes, one is under title ten, twenty three ninety one, the other is twenty six eighty seven. And the interpretations of those statutes, as we go back to our general counsel, was that they do not fit that that uh definition uh as a qualifying military installation under the d sip statute which then makes that's the the purposes of why they makes it ineligible what i'd like to do though is uh be able to come back and follow up and let's have a a deeper conversation about how we look at that look at the statutes um and so that we can further understand that together um as this was made aware to me just recently

so do you agree that you'll work with the committee and the stakeholders in mississippi to review whether the current interpretation is unintentionally excluding mission critical defense activities from the infrastructure programs.

And we'll go back and take another look for sure, and I'll come back to you on the answers to those things.

Great. Thank you. And regarding unaccompanied housing, I appreciate the department's renewed focus on improving barracks conditions and quality of life for our service members that we certainly want to take care of. milcon funding is obviously a big part of supporting the effort to improve unaccompanied housing how is the department using other authorities like enhanced use leases intergovernmental support agreements and public-private partnerships to help expand and modernize living quarters for our service members

senator i'm not sure there's a there's a greater topic we could talk about right now when it comes to the quality of life of our service members and i appreciate that and in April I reiterated the policies that were given through the twenty-six NDA that allowed us to expand all of those authorities and push that uh to my partners here uh into their civilian counterparts that said we will use every single tool in the toolkit. That means if we can expand our enhanced use lease, if we can do those regionally, if we can use IGSA's, in fact they just came, spoke this past Monday at the Association of Defense Communities to nine hundred community members' leadership, and and gave exactly the the mentions you just did which was to say use every single tool that we have to the expense and the speed that we possibly can uh to insure that we are not only uh taking care of the quality of life but doing it in a way to use every single dollar that we possibly have in the best possible use. I wanna stretch the dollars and I wanna go at speed as quickly as possible to enhance quality of life.

OK, and are there other additional authorities or legislative changes the uh department believes congress should consider to help expand or modernize unaccompanied housing more quickly can you identify any specific legislation that we can implement or head toward or introduce or how can we do that to expand that

so ma'am what what we've asked first and foremost is i wanna ensure always uh to to absolutely use every single authority that you've already given us so first that was the the direction from the policy the second piece then the team is coming back to me and i expect to see this uh they're uh just about complete and that is mil con reform in the sense of ufc unified facilities criteria what can we eliminate what can we reduce what guidance can we give to our partners again that says we can go faster in that process there's a potential that we may come back to you and ask for more help on that certainly repair by replace is the other one that we continue to look at is how can i use that authority raise those caps to be able to get after that. The last one is to ensure that I have enough resources, uh, and language to demo as quickly as possible. I think one of the things, uh, from my partners on the table is the ability, so often we're carrying excess infrastructure that I really should take off the table. And so, uh, I'll come back to you, uh, as soon as we can bring the MilKom piece back to its full fruition.

Great. Thank you and I certainly appreciate every one of you and what you do every day. I'm very, very grateful to you and the families that support you. Thanks.

thank you let me just uh ask a couple of things and then we're out of here really more comments and questions but mister marks we mentioned earlier that congress expanded the statutory authorities that in the twenty six NDA that helped improve the milcon process uh and i was really encouraged that you uh you know uh have taken the ball and run with the sense of you know uh, recently issuing guidance in that regard, and I guess my question is, is how we, how can we help you, and I know that, you know, that, that you desperately wanna get this done, the administration does, how can we help you translate, uh, you know, directives and words into actual action? And, uh, again, w- you know, as a committee I think I can speak for all of us, uh, you know, on both sides that, that we really would like to see that done, and, uh, So, is there anything we can do to help you? Are are there some metrics we can put in place to to measure or

Uh, I would go to, I think, Senator, on both speed and volume continue to remain the two kind of critical things that we're after. And cost is always uh the overhead cost, especially uh in Milkon right now um, you know, it upwards, even before we start sometimes it can be upwards of sixty-seven percent of an additional cost from the very beginning so I think taking uh part of this is the agreement to take a step back it's why i wanna come back to you and say here are things we know that we can do internal to our own authorities what we need beyond that but now it's how do we get after the remaining cost are there other agreements or portions of that uh that potentially we can come back and say um whether through uh the way we we deal with labor the additional cost that are encumbered right so to the degree that we can remove our own under our own authorities the enhancements there um but i think taking just a strong look at the milk on cost structure itself uh and how i think we can work with you and this committee uh to to maybe thin that down so we can go faster and get more out of the dollars that we spent

good we really appreciate your leadership the other thing very quickly is that we've seen a sergeant drone incursions over the united states government uh and military facilities over the past year combined with operations such as uh spiders web um these incidents demonstrate how emerging technologies can challenge traditional installation security measures, I think this is truly a a national emergency. There's a lot of talk about it, but I don't know that we're doing a lot about it. So, I would really encourage you all, and and and again, we've talked individually about the importance of this, but we simply have to get something done, you know, moving in that direction. So, uh, I'm not gonna ask you, you know, what exactly we're doing in that regard here. But I'd like to follow up, you know, on the next several months and, uh, we can go down to the skiff and, and talk and, but this, we have to have a plan, you know, we have to execute. Uh, we're willing to do whatever we need, but I really do think we have to, a- and I know all of you agree, we have to rethink our, our installations, uh, you know, how we're gonna protect them. Uh, and then again, dealing with these, uh, incursions that we're seeing with the, uh, uh, you know, that we've seen constantly. Uh, I'm sure there's some going on right now. But with that, uh, I wanna thank you all for being here. I really do appreciate your openness. I, I think the, uh, all of us would agree that, uh, you and your staffs are very, uh, uh, you know, it's easy to reach you and, uh, easy to reach your staffs. We appreciate that very, very much. We also appreciate your service and, uh, general uh skylanka uh we're gonna miss you you're probably not gonna miss these kind of things uh in the future but uh thank you for your service and and again thank you for your family uh as i said these are family things for members of the subcommittee any questions for the record should be turned in the subcommittee subcommittee staff no later than the close of business on thursday may twenty first you got any words of wisdom

uh count count me in to work with you mister chairman on those uh counter-UAS priorities and, and it, you know, including uh, facilities that are hosting US personnel and US equipment overseas that may be owned or operated by uh, our partners and allies and uh, given that it's Police Week, also wanna uh, acknowledge and, and thank with gratitude the US Capitol Police who are here

Yeah, yeah.

uh, taking care of us.

Right.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you. With that, uh, we're adjourned.