'I Hope That We're Successful': Michael Burgess Discusses Appropriations Process

3 months ago

At a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) spoke about the appropriations process.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00I want to thank all of our witnesses for their testimony today and the significant amount

00:06of work that you've put into these bills, and it is, as has been pointed out by several

00:11of you, it is important that these bills be delivered in a timely fashion, and we're working

00:18through that process today to get them to the floor, and I hope that we're successful

00:21in doing that.

00:24Mr. Calvert, you brought up about the number of submissions that you received from members.

00:35You had a pretty high number there, but I suspect there's even more than that.

00:39Your request that you were able to work into the base bill as you were working this process

00:44through your subcommittee?

00:45Mr. Chairman, we had about 10,000 requests for the appropriation bill in general.

00:51We worked through those.

00:52We were able to take care of a substantial number of those, working with the minority

00:56to make sure that members of Congress' areas and their interests were well represented

01:02within the bill.

01:05So that's a good thing.

01:06It's just that it seems that whether you're in the majority or the minority, the go-to

01:13offset is the O&M accounts, Operation Maintenance Accounts, to the Department of Defense, which

01:18we need to operate the department and to maintain the equipment that we have.

01:23So most of the money that's being offset is for those accounts, which obviously would

01:29gut that O&M account significantly.

01:32So that's the reason I bring that up, is that we try to, certainly we have a significant

01:40amount of funds that we're responsible for, but with a 6 percent inflation rate and a

01:445 percent increase, we have had to reduce the department approximately 5 percent.

01:51And generally, I made cuts of about $18 billion, which made some members unhappy.

01:57But that's the thing we had to do in order to meet our requirement under the FRA.

02:04You brought up consolidation and recognizing that's not something you can fix in a single

02:09year's appropriations bills.

02:12What are some of the things that we can look for as evidence that you're beginning to turn

02:21the tide a little bit on the consolidation?

02:23Well, as you know, we only have five primes today, and we've had some difficulties with

02:32some of the major programs.

02:35When it comes to mine, I probably shouldn't bring up, but I will, a submarine program,

02:39which I know some of my colleagues on both sides have talked to me about, specifically

02:43the Virginia-class submarine, which I'm in favor of.

02:45I'm in favor, obviously, of the department moving to a 2 plus 1.

02:49That means two Virginia-class submarines and a Columbia submarine to replace the Ohio-class

02:55submarine.

02:56Unfortunately, our industrial base, since the failure of the Soviet Union, has diminished

03:00significantly.

03:01We've closed a number of shipyards, and we do not have the industrial base or the supply

03:06chain at this moment to build two Virginia-class submarines.

03:11So what we're directing significant resources to in the next few years, over $10 billion,

03:17is to rebuild the industrial base for the submarine program, where we can get to potentially

03:23up to three Virginia-class submarines per year, working with our allies in Great Britain

03:29and Australia under the AUKUS program to make sure that we meet that requirement.

03:34Unfortunately, as we speak today, we do not have that industrial base.

03:39But that's, by the way, across the enterprise, whether it's fighter planes, whether it's

03:44submarines, whether it's ships, and you name it.

03:50We've had some difficulties meeting what needs to be supplied to make sure that our military

03:59has the best equipment and the best supplies.

04:03And if we do go to war, that we win and they lose.

04:07Thank you.

04:08Chairman Dinsborough, let me ask you the same question about the number of member submissions

04:14that you received in working through your bill.

04:18Mr. Chairman, we don't have member requests in our bill.

04:24However, as you know, this bill is mostly policy, right?

04:28So we worked with every member, including very closely with the Foreign Affairs Committee,

04:33the members there.

04:34But we worked with every member of the Appropriations Committee and outside the Appropriations Committee

04:38to try to reflect their concerns and their priorities.

04:42So you attempted to make this a very inclusive product?

04:46Very much so.

04:47Very much so.

04:48Yes, sir.

04:49Chairman Amedei, let me just ask you the same on homeland security.

04:56Can you give me an idea of how many member submissions that you received during the process

05:01of your markup?

05:02Yes, Mr. Chairman, that's a two-part thing.

05:05There were ones that were received from committee members on both sides of the aisle before

05:09the full committee markup.

05:10We ended up including many of those in the Manager's Amendment.

05:15We had 16 or 17 that were debated in front of the full committee, and some were accepted

05:20on both sides of the aisle, and some were rejected.

05:24For this bill, we had about 4,000 member requests, but we've got a group that we're

05:32working on for en blanc, and rough figure is about 39-ish that we, depending on what

05:39you folks do, will be prepared to address on the floor.

05:43Well, I want to thank all of you, because it is a tremendous amount of work.

05:49I mean, I also need to thank the Rural Staff.

05:51They've put in a tremendous amount of work going through the amendments this past several

05:56days.

05:57It is important that we do our work and that we get these bills delivered to the country

06:01before the end of the fiscal year, so I thank you for your participation and help in getting

06:07it done.

06:08Mr. Ranking Member, I'll yield to you for any questions you may have.

'I Hope That We're Successful': Michael Burgess Discusses Appropriations Process

Category

Transcript

Recommended