▶ 0:28:19people standing at the door saying you're not supposed to leave. But I I did leave. Unfortunately, I had had a hat on, the only person in the room, so the president's definitely going to know who left. Okay, but that's all right. It'll it'll I'll get over that. Thank you for coming here today.
▶ 0:28:37We like to hear from colleagues, hear their testimony, look forward to hearing about the projects and programs and issues in military construction and appro veterans affairs appropriations bill that are important to your district and to the communities across the country. Your input is critical as we work to fund agencies with under the supervision under this this this committee's jurisdiction.
▶ 0:29:05I look forward to working with the ranking member, Miss Walsman Schulz, and our subcommittee colleagues to accommodate these priorities as best we can as the fiscal year 2026 appropriation process moves forward. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today and bringing these important issues that you have about your community to our attention.
▶ 0:29:34And I thank Miss Wasserman for forgiving me for being late. I yield to Miss Wasserman Schulz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And no problem. Totally understand. We all have delays for various reasons. Um, and thank you for the opportunity for us to hear from our uh fellow colleagues this morning.
▶ 0:29:56This is always a good opportunity to make sure especi especially from members who are not members of the appropriations committee to hear from them about their priorities and I look forward to our colleagues input and feedback so it can help us uh develop our our bill for the FY26 fiscal year. I yield back. Our first witness is Miss Goodlander from New Hampshire and uh we're happy to hear your testimony. Well, thank you so much Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:30:25Ranking member Wasman Schultz, to this committee staff, thank you all for the really important work that you're doing and for the opportunity to share with you um the military construction and veterans affairs priorities for my home state, New Hampshire, in my district, the second district.
▶ 0:30:42I want to start uh with Veterans Affairs priorities and and say at the outset that I was very encouraged that President Trump issued an executive order earlier this month um highlighting a really important issue for New Hampshire which is that we are the only state in the continental United States without a fullervice um medical center. It and uh that's for for my district which is for a small state a very big district um it's presented some some very real problems.
▶ 0:31:10there are significant gaps in care. I have constituents who are driving hours to clinics which provide really good care but often not the right kind of care um that our veterans in New Hampshire need. And New Hampshire is home to more than 88,000 veterans.
▶ 0:31:26So, I was very encouraged by the president's executive order um identifying this problem and calling for a feasibility study by June 8th and a a full-on action plan by September 6th to support a full service medical center in New Hampshire and to make it so that New Hampshire is not the only state in the contiguous United States without such a center. So, I I want to encourage this committee to support and I want to encourage uh the administration to fully fund this effort.
▶ 0:31:55Um it's it's long past time that New Hampshire joined the rest of the continental United States um in having such a center. I also want to urge this committee to support the veterans the state veterans home program. I visited New Hampshire's um veterans home. It's an extraordinary facility pro providing really important services from skilled ner nursing to adult daycare healthcare. um and want to want to urge this committee to continue the support for that program.
▶ 0:32:25I I also want to urge this committee to protect and prioritize the Veterans Affairs Service Purchasing Program, which was terminated um by the Trump administration on May 1st. This is a lifeline program that has helped veteran bar borrowers avoid foreclosure at a moment when my state and states across the nation are in the midst of a genuine housing crisis. You you know in the end this this is not a handout program. This is a hand up for our veterans.
▶ 0:32:55Uh and I and I hope this committee will continue to support and protect that program. Uh the same is true for uh the Veterans Crisis Line which there have been many reports um from my district and around the country about the the continued functionality, accessibility, and performance of of this important lifeline. It's a it's a it's a genuine lifeline um to veterans across our country.
▶ 0:33:22And I want to urge this committee uh to support and continue funding this important program. Um, I'd also just add peer support specialists for for women veterans have made an enormous difference in New Hampshire and across the country. Um, and and so have the national veteran sports programs. At the University of New Hampshire, we have we have executed and delivered on these programs and I hope this committee will continue to support them.
▶ 0:33:51Uh, I'd say the same about delivering care for veterans with traumatic brain injuries. We have a lot of work to do in this regard. Um, so I I thank the committee for your work on the on the veterans uh affairs front and just want to close by highlighting some of our priorities on the military construction on the milcon front. It's one of my favorite acronyms, Milcon. You may not know it, but New Hampshire is a proud home to several missionritical facilities to our national security and defense.
▶ 0:34:20Um, you may know about the Portsmith Naval Shipyard, which is one of uh the longest standing naval shipyards in our nation, one of only four public shipyards left in the United States of America. Um, it's been the a lifeblood institution for my state since 1800. Um, and I want to urge this committee to continue to support the historic expansion efforts that are underway. Um, but above all, we've got to continue to invest in the Portsmith Naval Shipyards people.
▶ 0:34:48And at the end of the day, uh, our people, our shipyard workers are so critical to our national security. They have, um, been on the receiving end of chaos and uncertainty of hiring freezes and workforce cuts, attacks on their basic rights, and essential retirement benefits that have undermined their mission. And that's why I'm working hard um to protect their basic rights and um to fight for the dollars that that should be theirs.
▶ 0:35:16Um, and I want to urge um for this committee, I know you you play an important role. I serve on the armed services committee, but you play an important role in supporting uh the child development centers that the Department of Defense runs in actually building the brick and mortar and um in in New Hampshire, we don't have such a center, but it would make an enormous difference for the thousands of of women and men who serve at the Portsmith Naval Shipyard.
▶ 0:35:41Um, I'll close by saying that uh this is what you may not know about that New Hampshire is also home to the New Boston Space Force Station. It's one of eight worldwide sat satellite control network tracking stations and the I've I've had an opportunity to visit with the dedicated service members um who serve our country at this station who provide critical aroundthe-clock satellite command and control capabilities for the United States and our allies um and who support the nation's GPS system
▶ 0:36:11serving millions of Americans every single day. I want to urge this committee to continue to support their important efforts and that space for a station. But I want to thank you um truly to this committee for the work that you're doing to continue to fund our veterans affairs and military construction priorities. They are so core to our national security and they're so core to who we are as Americans. And with that, I yield back. Well, I want to thank you first for coming in here and giving us a heads up about what the what you need in New Hampshire.
▶ 0:36:41We will certainly take into consideration seriously everything you've raised. Okay, Miss Los. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Congressman Goodlander, uh, thank you for coming in.
▶ 0:36:55And, uh, I want to particularly thank you given that I spend a little bit of time in New Hampshire, uh, outside of New Hampshire, second only to Florida, um, where I'm, uh, proud to represent my district that my family and I spend, uh, quite a bit of time and my family's, uh, spent time there, uh, for generations. So, we have some familiarity with it.
▶ 0:37:16um you raised some important issues and obviously we this committee funds the entire budget for the the VA and um I'm I'm surprised to just now be learning that New Hampshire is the only state that doesn't have a full service hospital VA hospital.
▶ 0:37:34Um can you and knowing the um geography of New Hampshire and how long it actually I mean you think of New Hampshire as a small state but it it is it takes from top to bottom three or four hours to get from one one side of the state to the other.
▶ 0:37:53Um, so what kinds of services a are New Hampshire New Hampshire residents having to travel long distances to get and where are they having to travel? For what services are they having to travel outside of the state because they're not available in New Hampshire? Well, we are um a relatively small state. My district is a big district.
▶ 0:38:18It's 6,500 square miles from my hometown NSHA which is on the Massachusetts border all the way up to Canada and we've got the entire border with Vermont and share uh much of a border uh with with Maine as well.
▶ 0:38:31So it's a it's a big territory and you know many of our veterans are in the north country what we call in New Hampshire the north country the the northern part of our state and so I was in Colbrook recently talking to a group of veterans who uh have faced enormous to begin with and one of the things I'm focused on in the armed services committee are really cutting the red tape and the barriers for our service members when they leave service to be able to integrate quickly and um effectively
▶ 0:39:02into the VA health care system. Um we shouldn't be no veteran should have to be fighting red tape to get health care benefits that they have earned in their service to our country. But I was with a group of veterans. We spent a lot of time talking about the red tape that needs to be cut. And I know this committee will be focused on that as well.
▶ 0:39:20Um but listening to the challenges that um veterans across my state face, but especially in our rural areas in the north, you know, they are driving to begin with more than two hours to get to a clinic where they're often having clinic just to a clinic.
▶ 0:39:35Um the nearest clinic to the north is in Littleton, New um that you know that clinic needs more resources would would benefit from more staffing because veterans are driving more than two hours to get to that clinic and only to have a virtual appointment with a doctor somewhere else. Um sometimes in Manchester where our our VA medical center uh resides right now and it's it's it's a spending time there. It's an extraordinary team in Manchester.
▶ 0:40:06um they're punching way above their weight with facilities that are way too old. You know, there's been massive flooding uh in the last several years and they've done uh truly heroic work to try to keep that center up and running. Um but the gaps in the care, you know, it it has to do with accessibility, but it's it from specialized care. And one of the things I'm I'm encouraged about with this feasibility study and the action plan is I think it will bring to light with more specificity the gaps that exist right now.
▶ 0:40:36Um from where I sit, it's been a it's it's been a too long since we've had a really in-depth look at where the real gaps are. You know, this problem has been studied before. there's a strong case to be made, but we should have the latest information uh for this committee and for for the Congress as we as we proceed, I hope, towards um making New Hampshire um not the outlier in America. Thank you. Yeah.
▶ 0:41:03Um New Hampshire shouldn't be treated like a Massachusetts suburb, and I can understand your frustration. Um the other question I I have uh really relates to the um infrastructure issue at the um at the naval shipyard. I I've seen the massive construction that has occurred over the last few years and I know there's more changes coming.
▶ 0:41:30Um what uh what impact are you concerned about that the administration's hiring freezes and firings and budget cut indiscriminate budget cuts you know that are unlawful without regard to our committee the appropriations committee weighing in and Congress which is the appropriations responsibility.
▶ 0:41:56What what concerns do you have about the impact on our national security? Well, you know what, we've heard it's been it's been encouraging to hear the administration, members of the administration say that the the hiring freezes, the reductions in force won't impact our public shipyards.
▶ 0:42:14But in practice, what we're hearing from the ground is uh that there there hasn't been the kind of hiring that we need to see at the shipyards in order for um for our country to fulfill the mission that we need to be fulfilling and the disruptions in the uncertainty has has been a real detriment to the important work that happens there.
▶ 0:42:37these jobs, the work that's done at the Portsmith Naval Shipyard, it's some of the most difficult work that we could ever ask a patriotic and these are patriotic nonpartisan public servants who have dedicated their life to this work. These jobs are really, really hard. The uncertainty that's been injected into their lives um makes it hard to complete their mission.
▶ 0:42:59Uh what I'd also say is that it's it's the investments that this committee could make in child care where we've seen in in my home state and I'm sure it's a pattern you're seeing across the country of because we can't get access to basic child care services.
▶ 0:43:15um people are having to make the extremely painful decision to to leave their life's work and it's mostly women and uh this would make a huge difference in our state uh to have um investments that would allow us to step up and make child care more accessible and affordable. It's one of the biggest challenges that we face and it is it is a it it is a barrier to our national security when we're losing talented professionals at our public shipyards. Well, thank you.
▶ 0:43:42I know Judge Carter and I, no matter which one of us has chaired this subcommittee, and we've been a tag team for many years here, um have prioritized uh the funding of child care centers, um even when administrations have not put requests in their budget for any new ones. We've gone ahead and and put funding in for uh for those CDC's. It's really important and we um we are very focused on the quality of life uh for our active duty service members. We have a quality of life hearing every year.
▶ 0:44:13Um, our members meet with the personnel in the military who are responsible for quality of life. We have held many of those officials accountable for the real threat that exists just like you're saying and we've heard testimony from service members who want to make the military their life's work.
▶ 0:44:35they're that they want to they went into the military, many of them intending for it to be their career, but the obstacles uh that that are thrown in their way um because of negligence really um result in the quality of their family's life. Um there's really serious issues with privatized military family housing.
▶ 0:44:57Um the privatized military family housing companies continuously just make cost of doing business decisions ignore and neglect the quality of those facilities and conditions that res that they're the personnel and their families are living in and uh and our ability to retain those uh service members is greatly impacted.
▶ 0:45:21So, there's a lot of work to do to make sure that we let those folks know that they are our priority and that we care about them and their quality of life. And you coming and taking the time, member day, when you can see there's not a very long line behind you of members waiting to testify here, it's really important and uh and and such a positive message to your own constituents that you're looking out for them. So, thank you. I yield back. Thank Well, I want to thank you for coming in today.
▶ 0:45:51I I will tell you that as we look at our national defense, ship building is becoming a major issue for the for the the Congress and the American people and we will do everything in our in our power to to do what we can and we will look we have a lot to look at and believe me because you came in here it puts a priority on some things. So, thank you very much for coming in.
▶ 0:46:19I appreciate you giving us this information, which quite honestly, I'm from a great big state and I am proud to see you come in here and talk about this. So, thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you. And uh thank you member. It's helpful to know these things just like ranking member said and we don't we don't forget the the things that are pointed up to to us by our cons our friends who are friends in the in Congress.
▶ 0:46:50And so, thank you for coming in and we we will really work as hard as we can based upon the priorities we have in the ne in the in the next bill. And we're Johnny on the spot. We're going to be coming out in in June 3rd, which is week after next. Uh so, it's a it's a real challenge. So, I'll tell you. So, you're you're definitely a current event. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming.
▶ 0:47:18Can I just say to to you both, I I I really thank you. I serve on the Armed Services Committee, and so I really look forward to I'm on the personnel subcommittee for a reason, and it's because I really believe that our people are at the beating heart of our national security.
▶ 0:47:34Um, but I just want to say that one of the through lines in the hearings that we've had in in the Armed Services Committee so far when you ask what's a real threat to our national security that we don't have on time reliable budgets that were operating under the CR system which is breaking down more and more. This is a threat to our national security. This subcommittee has been a model for the rest of the Congress and I just want to thank you for your leadership in this regard.
▶ 0:48:00Well, and we uh we agree wholeheartedly with you that uh I just was tell I was preaching to my yesterday the budget committee ought to meet meet within five days of the new president coming in and start working on the budget.
▶ 0:48:20They ought to have to finish it by the end of February and then we we we can go to work and get early bills out and after that we go kick the the Senate in the you know what and tell them we're not waiting till September for you guys to do your job. Do it now. And if we do that, we'll get back to regular order. That's just my personal opinion. Everybody laughed and said that's a joke. Never happened. Well, I am with you.
▶ 0:48:48consider me mobilized and at your service um to support you in this effort. So, thank you for thank you for your service and we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.
▶ 0:49:22We're ready for the next person. We want to thank you for coming and talking to us
▶ 0:49:53about this. Uh the chair is you the the floor is you me for allowing me to submit veterans affairs agency. I'm honored to discuss critical investment.
▶ 0:50:20So today I'm here to talk about one thing located right outside Ohio. So we're talking This air force base right on route 11 is nestled in between Ohio and Ohio.
▶ 0:50:49This actual district is David Joyce's district but it affects the Ohio 6 because a lot of employees that are there live within the Ohio 6. It affects Akran. It affects Canton. It affects uh Cleveland, Youngsttown, Conneott, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Some say it even affects the outskirts of Buffalo, New York. It has over 1500 employees. It's the largest employer of Trumbull County. What makes this Air Force base so important?
▶ 0:51:18And that would be the C130. It is the home of the C130 and always has been. The C130 has been very instrumental when we go to war. it it it actually moves heavy equipment and a lot of soldiers to the warfront. But when it's not in wartime, it's used for spraying. So when you have mosquito problems and you have all these different things and you need a plane to do an override and drop either a spray or water on on materials that are on the ground, the C130 is your go-to.
▶ 0:51:47was something really big happened with the defense department over the last five years where Tim Ryan actually instrument in getting the new C130J which is basically a modern version of the old C130 which was a propeller plane and now we're going into a jet brand new approach highly technology inside the plane. These planes are about hund00 million each. The defense department plans on having nine to 10 of these planes at the Air Force base. We have three right now.
▶ 0:52:17So, we have $300 million in assets that are sitting on this uh this Air Force base that employs 1500 people. The problem is we have a dilapidated uh fire station that is present. It really isn't fit to put out any kind of disaster or any kind of fire that would actually be going on within the air air force base. So, we need to redo this. So, that is the main reason I'm here is to talk about the new fire station that we need to do. Well, here's the good part. The funding has already been improved.
▶ 0:52:44The fire station had a Department of Defense priority feature years of 2023. Thanks to this committee right here, design funding was secured in 2024. It was a great first step. The Pentagon requested $25 million for this very fire station to be implemented. The problem is nobody has been able to connect the dots.
▶ 0:53:05We have to put a little bit of pressure on the Pentagon to jar that money free so we could actually do this with seven more planes stated to come in the next two or three years and to put a billion dollars of assets on this Air Force base and for the preservation of the 1500 employees there which is bipartisan because this goes through bipartisan lines over in the Akran Canton Cleveland Pittsburgh. It is necessary for us to do this. Uh and once again even though uh it is not my direct district I feel like it's my adopted district.
▶ 0:53:34my family has enjoyed over the years, they put a beautiful air show at the Youngstown Air Force Base. It seems to be the cradle of bringing the community together. It's just a great place to visit. Um, something else that's really interested, it's something that jumps all different forms of government. So, when you're talking about local government, whether you have the mayor of Youngstown or the mayor of Warren or whether you have local county trustees or commissioners, they all gather.
▶ 0:53:59Uh, one of my, uh, things I'm most proud of in the Ohio Senate when I was chair of government was I helped facilitate some money with Sean O'Brien across the aisle and we were able to get $17 million for new gates there because they needed to go through a threshold of uh, securing their gates with all the problems that we have at breaches and milit military uh, you know, bases. So, that was a pride of mine. So, I'm here just today basically to ask for the committee to help jar this money free with the Pentagon.
▶ 0:54:28I think just a little push and we'll be able to get it. Uh in closing, I want to thank you for your support on this project. The new fire station is vital for protecting the e economic investment in northeast Ohio. As some of you have already re seen in the state house, I can confirm that yours is a model collaboration in the state of Ohio. When you take bipartisan people, you take all forms of government, whether it's local, state, or in federal, and you bring them together as one family.
▶ 0:54:53I ask to work closely with you to ensure that the fire station project moves forward and I will do everything in the power of myself or my office to help you. Safeguarding America especially for aerial spray missions is vital and Yars Air Force Base in Youngsttown, Ohio is this epicenter of doing this. Protecting America with aerial spray missions and this committee could do tremendous work. I look forward to working with you in the future. Head on.
▶ 0:55:21Well, I think I have some good news for you. The Department of Defense recently sent forward their fiscal year 2025 plan and f and the fire state station you just spoke about is fully funded in the spend. Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nothing to do with it but but we will both tell you. Oh my god. This is wonderful. Thank you so much. God bless you all. Thank you.
▶ 0:55:51Thank you very much. Thank you. Don't go away. She gets to talk, too. Go ahead, Miss W. Schules. Thank you. Um and you know, we're pleased to give you that news.
▶ 0:56:04Uh it is a spend plan that our committee insisted on receiving from the Department of Defense because uh unfortunately we were in a situation that in this last fiscal year we did not have a uh a full year budget pass through the the entire Congress and did a uh you know sort of rest of the year CR.
▶ 0:56:27Um, but this is a great example of why fullear CRS are really problematic because you came in here not even knowing that what you're asking for um was funded. You certainly would have known that had we been able to fund it. It was on the list. It would have been funded. It was part of our bill, but it didn't get funded because we didn't pass all of our bills. That's right.
▶ 0:56:49um if we had enacted fullear bills um then this conversation wouldn't even have been necessary and you would have the certainty that this important project was funded. Um, so we have to make sure that we together in a bipartisan way exercise Congress's constitutional appropriations authority in article one and not do things like seed it to the executive branch where your district was
▶ 0:57:19at their mercy. They could have easily put forward a spend plan that didn't have the fire station in it because we left the prioritization of how that money was spent up to the executive branch since we did a CR. So, as an appropriator, and I know Judge Carter, the chairman agrees, I'm glad this worked out for you and for your constituents this time, but let's make sure that we keep our that we keep Congress in the driver's seat and pass fullyear bills and as the chairman said, get these bills done on time so that
▶ 0:57:50uh that we can make sure that uh we prioritize members requests um in our regular appropriations process. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you. And uh thank you for coming. We're glad to give you the good news. And she's right. We don't like CRS. They they really go against our g our grain. We do all the work and then the work that we do pretty much goes by the by the wayside.
▶ 0:58:21U hopefully we'll get it all. We'll get a full appropriations bill this time. Hopefully. But but you're in good shape. You're in their spending plan. Well, on behalf of the 1500 families that you help preserve their jobs, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and the fiveount area. Thank you. Thank you so much. And the reser, by the way, the reser just like the or the the ordinary airmen.
▶ 0:58:48They they uh they go go to war for us and we know that they do. They do all the hard work and they get no attention and and this is this means the world. Thank you. Well, congratulations. Thank you guys. Have a beautiful day. And with that we will Turn.