and we are not going to let it happen. [cheers and applause] and they know something else. dana i will stand my ground against drug companies that are gouging us with skyrocketing drug costs against polluters who are poisoning our air and water. we are going to combat climate change, not deny. against the gun lobby the blocks every commonsense reform, even keeping guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists of the no-fly list. if you are too dangerous to fly, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in american. [cheers and applause] and i will continue to stand my ground against those trafficking prejudice and paranoia who spread hate against immigrants, muslims, lgbt americans, or

anyone else they can scapegoat and demonized. insulting each other won't solve anything. you cannot make our country great by tearing our people down. [cheers and applause] so let's remember, let's remember we have to work together and grow together. and i want to keep you two quick examples. first, we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to full and equal citizenship. [cheers and applause] i am so sorry that this used to be a bipartisan issue, didn't it? yet not a single republican candidate, not one, clearly and consistently supports a real path to citizenship.

[shouting] >> you write your donald trump calls mexicans rapists and drug dealers. [booing] he says he wants to round up and deport 11 million people. [booing] senator rubio helped write the 2013 immigration bill. now he renounces it. now, we know this is going to be a difficult fight so we have to stand together and keep the pressure on. we have to reach out and make the case again and again, remind people that comprehensive immigration reform put wages for millions of workers and adds hundreds of billions of dollars to our nations economy. [cheers and applause] we have to remind people that at its heart, this is a family issue. if we say that we support families and our country, that has to mean something. hard-working parent should have to prepare their kids for the possibility that mom or dad

might be hauled away anytime. and if congress to refuses to act, as president i will defend president obama's executive actions. i will go further. [cheers and applause] there are many undocumented people with deep ties in their communities who deserved the chance to stay, like the parents of the dreamers i met here in las vegas, and i will fight for them. and i will close private immigration detention centers that should not be outsourced, and i will and family detention. we have good alternatives we should use, and i will work to ensure that every refugee who seeks asylum in the united states has a fair chance to tell his or her story, especially children fleeing from violence. [cheers and applause] now come immigration reform is a big issue that dominates the headlines but i want to give you an example of another problem

that doesn't make as much news but has a real impact on millions of families. because i think the president, has to be able to do with the challenges as big as the world and as small as your kitchen table. everywhere i go across america, people share painful stories of addiction and substance abuse with me. how many of you have a loved one who has struggled with this? just raise your hand, police. you know, last sunday in new hampshire at a big town hall, i call upon the young girl. she had been raising her hand, and she told me she is now living in foster care because her mother overdosed. she asked me what more i could do for kids and families in similar situations. the truth is, i think there's a lot more we can do if we do it together. we can't invest in treatment,

not more jails, better training for prescribers, easier access to anti-overdose of drugs and efforts that will help people with addictions end up in recovery, not prison. but not long ago i saw a great example of what we can do. sheila leslie suggested i go to a community program in reno called crossroads. it's run by the sheriff's office and catholic charities. they were tired of seeing the same people in and out of jail, in and out of the emergency room with no hope of breaking the cycle of addiction. so they said let's try something different, and build a safe place for people to spend the night with counseling and support, and some tough love. since 2011 crossroads has saved county taxpayers an estimated $20 million. [applause]

by keeping hundreds of people out of the hospital and out of prison. you know, i love this. i love it as a model. it's really america, isn't it? when we come together to solve problems, a sheriff and a priest sit down together and say our people are hurting, let's try something different. we americans bigger and bigger and stumble and fall, but we are at our best when we pick each other up. when we respect our differences and each other. i know it's unusual for a candidate running for president to say we need more love and kindness in our country, but i think we do. we all have to do our part. [applause] as parents and grandparents, as neighbors and coworkers and citizens, we have to look out for each other. we have to strengthen our

families, our communities, our sense of common purpose as americans. whether you're a dishwasher dysphoric coalminer in kentucky or an unemployed young men in chicago, i want you to feel like have a stake in our country's future and that our country has a stake in your future, too. we can't forget that. no one should be left out or left behind. we are all part of this great experiment we call america, no matter where you're from or what you look like or who you love. i am the granddaughter of an immigrant factory worker, and the grandmother of the most wonderful little girl in the world. [cheers and applause] bill and i will do everything we can to ensure that shows the opportunity to succeed, but i don't believe you should have to be the grandchild of a former president to share and the promise of america. the grandchildren of truck

drivers and teachers, firefighters and housekeepers should have that chance, too. and in the end that you what's at stake in this election. what kind of country are we going to be? are they going to be defined by fear and presentment, or by what president lincoln called "the better angels of our nature"? as president i will be your first line of defense against the dangers we face. i will always have your back, but i can't do it without you. i need you, if you have the real responsibility because you are the first line of defense. when you caucus on february 20, it's up to you to choose the right person to stand up to the republicans, protect everything we have achieved, keep america moving forward. please join me, help me, fight for you, deliver for you, protect you. let's make america all we know it can be. thank you, and goodnight.

[cheers and applause] thank you ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good to see you guys. hey, thank you very, very much. it is wonderful to be here in nevada. how is everybody doing tonight? [cheers and applause] are we democrats fired up? [cheers and applause] ready to go? [cheers and applause] it is wonderful to be with all of you, and i also want to thank harry reid for his outstanding leadership of our nation. senator reid, thank you for everything that you do for us. [applause] >> my name is martin o'malley.

i am the former mayor of baltimore and the former governor of maryland. i am a lifelong democrat and i am running for president of the united states. i intend to wind, and i need your help. [cheers and applause] >> i am honored to be on this stage we find candidates like hillary clinton and senator sanders and -- [cheers and applause] all of us join in with you in finding a better way forward for our country. my experience though is different than my other two competitors. i am not a former united states senator or former congressperson, though i have learned how to get votes and bring people together to accomplish difficult things. i'm not a cabinet secretary or an advisor, but i put together some terrific cabinets of really talented and diverse men and women who know how to get things done. my experience is as an

executive, mayor and as a governor, bringing people together, getting things done. what sort of things? actions, not words. the first state in the union to pass the living wage, raising the minimum wage, investing more in public education rather than less to make our public schools number one in america five years in a row. these were actions, not words. [applause] going for years in a row without a penny's increase to college tuition come investing more in our infrastructure, making my state number one in innovation and entrepreneurship, passing a climate change bill, and taking actions like these, drivers licenses for new american immigrants and passing the dream act in maryland. [applause] passing marriage equality, repealing the death penalty, and passing comprehensive gun safety

legislation. actions, not words. [applause] look, i know that sometimes it's easy to become discouraged about the gridlock in our national politics and in congress by the division and polarization of our nation's deliberative body. when that happens to you i want to urge you to do as i do. and that is, if you want to know what our country is headed, talk to young americans under 30. because you will rarely find among them young americans who deny that climate change is real or think that the nation shouldn't do something about it. you really find among the people who want to slam america's doors in the face of refugee families fleeing genocide. and you will rarely find among them young americans who want to bash the american immigrants or deny rights to gay couples or to their children. and all of this tells me, all of

this tells me that we are actually moving to a much more connected, much more compassionate and much more generous place. we have only needed new leadership to call forward the goodness within us and move our country forward. so, nevada, i energy challenge you, to challenge you to point the way forward for our country. at a time when it seems like big money has taken over our politics here in the nevada caucuses, every individual still matters, don't they? [applause] so i'll want to share some thoughts with you tonight about our country, about where we need to head, the actions we need to take to move us forward. and one of the most important lessons i learned about our country and about the american dream that we share, i learned when i was 17 when i was working in a restaurant and i saw this new american immigrant man.

his name was mcgill, and mcgill, without him, the restaurant would not function. this guy was there early, opened up the place, pumping cakes, busing tables. i watched it work tirelessly night after night the heart and soul of the place. at the end of one long night of a number asking him, i said, miguel, how is it that you worked so hard, and instead of answering me how come he told me why in three very powerful words. he said, for my daughter. [applause] you see, you and i are part of a living, self creating the street called the united states of america. but the promise at the heart of

that history is actually a very real and concrete thing. and that is the covenant amongst and between us that says in our country, you start where you start, but through your own hard work you should be able to get ahead, should be able to keep your children and grandchildren a safer, healthier and better future. my wife and i have for terrific kids, grace and tara, william and jack. and my oldest daughter is a first grade teacher in her third year at walter peak elementary school in baltimore city. any teachers in the audience? [applause] well, several months ago after her dad had announced for president at home in baltimore she returned to her first grade class, 100% african-american kids. true story. little girl hunter on the site and said ms. o'malley, little girls name was sabina, she said ms. o'malley, i'm not so sure about the safety of your father

running for president because, quite frankly, i kind of like barack obama. [laughter] a lot of us like barack obama, wright? [cheers and applause] eight years ago when our nation was on the verge of being plunged into a second great depression by the recklessness and unchecked greed of wall street we brought forward as a part of a new leader in barack obama took our country forward, and that is exactly what he has done. ..

divides us and there is nothing so divided about the nation's politics that new leadership and our love for one another cannot heal.

this is what we can agree on. no american family that works hard and plays by the rules should have to live in poverty, should they? but unfortunately some billionaires would disagree. wages are too high, american wages are too high? i will tell you what is too high, college tuition in the united states of america. the cost of childcare is too high. the number of americans living in poverty is too high, donald trump's opinion of himself, that's too high. [cheering] no, no, no.

donald trump actually wages in america are too low when the workers earn more, they spend more and our entire economy grows. that is american economics. the hard truth of our times, my fellow democrats, that we need to know if we are going to win the general action is this and this is what we need to know and acknowledge to fix it and have credibility with our neighbors. today, because of the bad trickle-down choices of the last 30 years before president obama 70% of us are earning the same or less than 12 years ago and that's the first time this happened since world war ii. that's not the way the country is supposed to work or the economy is supposed to work. we have come a long way but we have urgent work to do. and while both its left and right wings are actually working, the truth of the times

is also that the democratic party can the party of roosevelt, the party of barack obama will make the economy work again and wages go up for all the american. the formula of our success has sent in every generation we make our country stronger and we take action not words but actions. to include more people in the economic social and political life of the nation therefore with new leadership we must raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour however we can and wherever we can. pay for overtime work and make it easier for people to join the labor unions and bargain collectively for better wages for all of us. [cheering]

equal pay for equal work and paid family leave in the united states of america, these are the choices that move us forward and instead of scrapping or privatizing social security, i've put forward a plan to expand social security and increase average pay to the americans and social security. [applause] we want to get the wages up rather than down, then let us do what our grandparents and parents did before us. let's get 11 million of our neighbors out of the off the books shadow ground economy by passing comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for all. [applause] these are on the 15 strategic goals that i could forth in the campaign for moving the country forward into the difference

between the goal in a dream as a deadline something i've also learned as a mayor and and the governor i put forward a plan to make us debt-free college a reality within the next five years. i put forward a plan and i have the backbone to stand up to the bullies and wall streets of the economy can never record the main street economy and what does that mean? free instituting of the modern version of class -- glass-steagale. in eradicating childhood hunger in the next five years, these are the ambitions that are worthy of a great people and another one of those goals is this, to cut in half the number of americans who die from guns and gun violence in the united states. [applause]

president barack obama stood beside families have been devastated in shattered by gunfire once. he spoke for the nation and spoke to all of us as a people and what did he offer, he offered reason and compassion and common sense for the

slaughter of all of those kids in the classroom in connecticut i don't our people together to pass comprehensive gun safety legislation including a the ban on combat assault weapons and you know what, we didn't interrupt a single hunter's privileges or hunting season in fact i've never met a self-respecting hunter who needed a good team to down a deer. with new leadership in washington, we can save american

lives. universal background checks, assault weapons, holding that gun makers and sellers responsible when they are criminals armed criminals because one american life is worth more than all of the gun sales in america. another key part of the success is we don't run from our challenges. we don't hide from them, we faced them square on. climate change is the biggest opportunity to come to the united states in 100 years and we need to make this opportunity hours. i'm the first candidate for president and let us hope not the last to put forward a plan to move america to be 100% clean electric energy grid by 2015 and create 5 million jobs along the way. [cheering] make no mistake about it a clean energy future is a future with

more jobs and more prosperity, not less. and yet here in nevada, the clean more prosperous future is under attack isn't it? you have made such tremendous strides. you make your state number one in solar power. but now look what has happened. instead of celebrating the accomplishment and building on eighth to create more jobs and show the way forward, your public utilities commission has imposed outrageous fees on anybody with a solar panel. homeowners, schools with solar panels creating clean green energy will now in effect be paying to subsidize coal fired power plants after creating thousands of jobs in the sales and installations get this, they've closed up shop in nevada

saying the state was trying to sabotage solar energy. we can't afford to sabotage our children's future any more. we didn't land a man on the moon within all of the above strategy it was an engineering strategy and so was the imperative of the clean energy future. we are the most innovative nature of problem solvers the world has ever seen and with new leadership, we can rise to the challenge of our times and make a clean energy future america's opportunity for a new century. don't you agree? ' because our diversity is our strength, and we are a nation of nations. america is made stronger by the arrival of new american immigrants.

my own great grandparents were immigrants. half of them germans, have been irish. their first language might not have been english but their hopes for their kids and grandkids were purely american. today in the country there there are voices in politics today, loud, angry voices. voices of fear, who would question our common humanity, demagogues who incite hate and try to put us against one another. while, i have news for them. they do not come shaped like anchors and there isn't a such thing as an illegal person. we are all in this together. we are all in this together and we've come together over land, overseas to come into our country we are a nation of immigrants.

and i will tell you this if you ever want to talk to someone that believes in america and the leaves in the american dream talked to a new america -- american immigrant who has risked it all to come here. but it's going to take new leadership to break 35 years of gridlock in washington on this issue. this isn't merely a constituent issue, this is

with new leadership we must shut them down. and we must also shred of those government contracts for the for-profit prisons, a shameful policy. [applause] in the last few days, over christmas, immigration officials launched here in our own nations nationwide deportation rates at christmas jesus himself was a refugee child fleeing death gangs at christmas. these nationwide deportation rates are now terrorizing hundreds of families, waking them up at dawn. some of the deportees as young

as 4-years-old, and sending them back to the hands of death gangs. this is not consistent with who we are as a nation. [applause] we don't make america stronger by breaking families up. we need to stop ripping families apart once and for all all putting a stop to these mindless deportation policies. the answer isn't two d. portlanders and children that walk thousands of miles to ask people if the united states for refuge. it's to join the alliance for progress in our own hemisphere to push back against drug traffickers and those that would seek to destabilize and trigger price the nations in america. the answer is for us to extend temporary protected status to those that have fled from guatemala and from honduras and

el salvador. this is with keeping our character as a nation. we must show with actions not words but we believe our hemisphere by the actions we take here of compassion and humanity. the way that we confront the ongoing terror is not by's rendering but actually by folding it true to them. the violent genocidal evil in the world known as isis must be confronted and must be destroyed. we must lead this effort by building the broadest possible coalition. the un security council unanimously issued a call for the member states to read the action against isis and take all necessary measures in that fight. the united states must take the lead in making the security council resolution real. to lead the effort to destroy the operational capacity of isis

governors have led us to victory in two world wars not a scapegoating americans were pitting us against one another but bringing us together and that is what we must do today. it always triumphs over fear and even though donald trump tells the nation he went than american muslims from travel and entering our country we know that that path doesn't lead to the future of our country. he says we should be monitoring religious services and start some sort of registry, some sort of registry of american citizens based on their fate beginning first with american muslims, whose next? catholics, trade unionists, artists? well, donald trump, when you launched your registry of americans who oppose your ideas, you can start with me. [applause]

this much i know, we will never surrender what it means to be an american to terrorists or to the best appeals of demagogues like donald chump, will we? the symbol of the nation isn't a barbed wire fence, it is the statue of liberty and we need to act like that. so it is my friends this year in decision nevada has a historic role to play in crafting the outcome of the race. nevada has a role to play in bending -- people say to me you have a tough fight. well, you know what, i kind of like a tough fight. i've always been drawn to tough fights. i didn't run for the mayor of baltimore because things were

going great in the city in 1999. i didn't leave my states to a -- for the last eight years as easy economic times but i fought to save every house and job i could a job i could and to those that see toomey you face a tough fight i look back at them and i say there's a lot of people that say that you face a tough fight, too being able to give your children and grandchildren a better future than your parents gave to you. i think the toughness of the fight may be that way by god has a telling us it's that something worth saving. or children's future is worth saving. the country is worth saving if the planet is worth saving that's why i'm running for president of the united states. i need your help and i'm asking you to choose new leadership. god bless the united states of

america and our journey forward together. thank you all very, very much. ♪ [cheering] [cheering] let me begin --

[cheering] let me begin by thanking all of you in this room for your patriotism, for your love of the country and doing what too few americans are doing and that is standing up and fighting and getting involved in the political process. let me give a special thanks to my dear friend harry reid and

his wife for their decades and decades of service to nevada and to the people of our country. thank you so much. let me just say if you have heard from secretary clinton and governor o'malley, this country has come a long way from seven years. and also gary reed, thank you. [cheering] we have come a long way since george w. bush left office. when bush left office, 800 thousands of people were losing

their jobs and we had a $1.4 trillion deficit and the world financial system was on the verge of collapse. our republican friends. we shouldn't be too hard on them they suffer from amnesia. they seem to have forgotten that positions they left this country and we will not let the american people forget that. [cheering] we have made real progress and we should be proud of what we have accomplished. but we still have a very long

way to go to create the kind of country we know we deserve a. [applause] yes, unemployment has gone down but real unemployment today counting those that have been working part-time as close to 10%. youth unemployment is off the charts. we've got to put the american people back to work and that's why i am fighting for a chilean dollar infrastructure program to rebuild our roads, bridges, airports and put 13 million

people back to work. today let's be clear the federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. people in nevada, people in vermont, people all over the country are working two or three jobs to try to pay the bills. it is not a radical idea to say that somebody that works 40 hours a week shouldn't live in poverty. we are going to raise the minimum wage to 15 months in our -- box andan hour.

today in america millions of seniors, millions of senior citizens and disabled veterans are trying to get by on 12 or $13,000 a year. well, you know what, you can't get by on 12 or $13,000 a year. my republican colleagues think that 12 or $13,000 a year is too much. they want to cut social security. the truth is we have got to expand social security and pay for it by lifting the tab on taxable income. the music is really beautiful.

but today in america, the middle-class middle class of this country continues to disappear despite a huge increase in technology and productivity millions of people are working longer hours for lower wages and yet today despite the disappearance of the middle class we have all income and wealth any quality than any time since 1928 and it is worse in america than any other major country on earth it is morally acceptable that the top one tenth of 1% today now owns almost as much wealth as the

bottom 90%. it is wrong that the ten wealthiest families in america own more wealth than the bottom 50%. it is wrong than 58% of all new income created today is going to the top 1%. here is a radical idea. here is a radical idea. we are going to create an economy that works for working families, not for billionaires. [applause] as you have heard from secretary clinton and governor o'malley, the affordable care act has

accomplished some very important. we've done away with the obscenity of pre-existing conditions. we have added some 17 million to the ranks of the insurance. but, we can do better and we must do better. the united states today remains the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to every man, woman and child. in the united states, we pay the highest prices in the world for

prescription drugs and the drug companies can double or triple the price of your medicine tomorrow. at the the time is long overdue for this country to join in the rest of the industrialized world and pass a medicare for all single-payer program. i am a member of the senate environmental committee and the senate energy committee. thanks for putting me on those committees. and in that capacity i can tell you that i've talked to scientists not only through our country but throughout the world and the truth is that climate change is real and it's caused

by human activity and it's already doing harm in our country and around the world. now the coke brothers and the fossil fuel industry may not like it, but the tie-in is now for the sake of our children and our grandchildren to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. today in america, we have an economy which is rigged and the rich get much richer while most

everybody else gets a lower. but in addition to the rigged economy, we have a corrupt campaign finance system. [applause] and what that means is that as a result of this disaster this five to four supreme court decision, super packs are popping up all over the political landscape and millionaires and billionaires are in the process of buying elections. that isn't what democracy is about. that is what and we are going to end oligarchy in this country.

[applause] here's the promise, no nominee of mine to the united states supreme court will get that decision unless he or she is crystal clear about one that one of their first orders of business will be to overturn citizens united. ♪ i am very proud to be the only democratic candidate for president who does not have a super pack i am extraordinarily

proud of that in the last eight months, my campaign has received two and a half million individual contributions to more than any campaign in the united states history and the average contribution is less than $30. what we are proving in a very significant way is that you can run a national campaign that itv

will be a winning campaign without being dependent on corporate money of millionaires and billionaires. today we've got to recognize a very unpleasant but true fact. i am the only candidate for president who will tell you this and that is no president, not bernie sanders or anybody else can allow an debate could -- allowed take on. corporate america, the corporate media, the coke brothers, the

campaign donors are too powerful. that is the simple truth and the present truth but truth and that is why in my campaign what we are talking about is not just electing a president, we are calling for a political revolution. [cheering] and what does that mean? what it means is that we will not succeed as a nation unless tens of millions of people, many of whom have given up on the political process many of them who no longer have a stake in washington and many of whom no

longer vote. if we are not able to bring those working people back into the political process. we wouldn't be able to transform america and create a government that works for all of us. ♪ i am very proud of that in this campaign so far all over the country, we have had meetings bringing out over 450,000 people working people are now standing up and are fighting back against

the rigged economy and the corrupt political system. and let me be very clear. all of us want to make sure that we defeat right-wing extremism and we make certain that no republican becomes president of the united states. all of us are united and we will take back the senate and then we are going to do over this country. but let me be clear that result will not happen with if establishment politics and establishment economics.

the only way the democrats win elections is when we have a large voter turnout. republicans win as they did last year when the people are demoralized, when people give up on the political process. what we need in this campaign is energy, we need youth and a democratic party. we need a democratic party that makes it clear to every worker in the country that we are on their side and we are preparing to take on a millionaire class.

[cheering] raising money for the wealthy. it should be reworking people working together in basketball arenas and football stadiums by the tens of thousands to answer the questions, to mobilize them so that we have the fighting force we need to transform this country. but we will not accomplish that goal unless the middle-class and

working families of the country know in their hearts that we are on their side. and we know they are on the side unless we have the courage to stand up to the billionaire class whose greed is destroying our economy. and that is why i have introduced legislation that takes on the most powerful special interest in the united states of america. and that is the need to break up the huge financial institutions on wall street.

as the people of nevada understand, wall street's greed and recklessness and illegal behavior created the worst economic downturn since the great depression. but a funny thing happened. we bailed out wall street because they were too big to fail it turns out three out of the four largest banks in america today were bigger because they were too big to fail and it turns out that the sixth largest financial institutions in america have assets equivalent to 60% of the gdp of the country issued two thirds of the credit cards and write one third of the mortgages when you have a handful of

financial institutions that are so powerful the only other national approach is in fact to create a financial system. the financial system that works for small and medium-sized businesses not an island unto itself that is only concerned with more and more profits for itself. i am the ranking member of the senate budget committee and i will tell you what the republican budget is about. the republican budget is about

medicare, making massive cuts in medicaid, massive cuts in education, throwing millions of people off of healthcare and giving hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 1%. that is a budget and that is a political party that must be thrown out of office. but we will not do that. we will not succeed unless we galvanize the american people unless the voter turnout goes up, not down unless young people get involved in the political

process rather than sit it out. so, what this campaign is about is bringing millions of people into the political process in ways that we haven't seen in many years, and that's what it will take to win in november not to maintain the white house but to regain the senate and two when the chair all over the country. i wouldn't be running for president. i wouldn't be running for president is in my heart of hearts i didn't believe that it is too late for establishing politics and establishment economics.

it is not easy, i know that, and it makes people very nervous when we talk about a political revolution but here's the truth created no change that has ever come into this country has occurred from the top down. it has always been from the bottom up. we fought against segregation and racism because millions of african-americans and whites stood together and said enough is enough. because women and their male allies said women will not be

second-class citizens in the united states. unions in the 20s and 30s grew to becoming fighting a powerful force. [applause] [cheering] we have made significant progress in the struggle for gay writes because they said people in america must have the right to love those they want. over the years we have made a lot of progress in creating a

less discriminatory society. but here is where we haven't made progress but we've lost grounds. that is the economic struggle. what that means is that while the very rich become richer, most of us are becoming poorer. it means there is an engineer in washington now that wants to cut social security and it eliminates virtually every piece of legislation passed in this country since the 1930s of protect working people, so we are in a difficult moment, a pivotal moment in american history and that moment is do we bring people together to stand up and say loud and clear that

this great government belongs to all of us and not a handful of billionaires. that's the democracy that so many brave men and women gave their lives to defend. it's not going to be undermined by citizens united and super packs. that's the struggle that we are in right now and it's a difficult struggle. taking on the coke brothers and the corporate media, taking on wall street is not an easy struggle they have unlimited sums of money and incredible power that we have something

they do not have and that is when the people stand together there is nothing we cannot accomplish and that is what this campaign is about. thank you all very much.

three u.s. navy commanders to about the impact of planned reductions in the base investment and other capitol operating funding on the military's readiness. they also told the house armed services committee about the expected long-term effects of budget cuts imposed by congress on the pentagon in past years.

called to order, subcommittee on the house armed services committee we want to welcome everybody this morning, thank you all for being here for today's readiness hearing on the effects of reduced infrastructure and base operating investments or maybe readiness. this is the second of three hearings on the topic. the army and marine corps testified to increase readiness risks due to the reduced installation investments. i look forward to hearing the views in the navy today and air force next week and i would like to welcome the panel of experts. this morning we have with us the vice admiral commander on the aviation's command, the admiral on the southeast, the commanding officer of the naval airspace

and oceana. over the last several years the subcommittee is largely focused on operational readiness recovery since the drawdown of the forces in iraq and afghanistan. at the same time the department of defense assumed risk and infrastructure investments and reduced mission support services by redirecting funds from installation programs to other operational and training budget priority is. uncertain funding levels stemmed from repeated the continuing resolutions and a sequestration and exacerbated these risks. the purpose of the hearing is to clarify the choice for infrastructure and installation services to address funding priority is and mitigation strategies and to gather more detail on the current and future impact of these decisions on the operations and training from the commander's perspective. as the witnesses testify i would ask you address existing risk in the infrastructure and installation support program and impacts to readiness.

also, how will they the recent two-year budget we shape those risks and impacts? and what will the level of risk and impacts over the next ten years be key if p. if the budget levels remained unspent or he turned sequestration levels? i would like to turn to the ranking member for any remarks that she may have. >> thank you mr. chairman and i think the witnesses were being here this morning. i do think you for arranging this hearing on our infrastructure investment and their effect on our navy readiness. this hearing continues the series we are conducting to look at how the reduced infrastructure investments in fact. to the witnesses i think you all again for your service and being here today. the subcommittee has held hearings on the state of the military infrastructure and the impact of the budget decisions have on the department's ability to maintain and recapitalize that infrastructure.

the subcommittee has examined issues impacting the state of our military's readiness and the devastating impacts that sequestration have had. as we receive testimony from each service army and marine corps in december and the navy and air the air force, idb this is the first time that we have helped subcommittee hearings where we attempt to understand the impact that budget decisions regarding military infrastructure and installation support are having and will have on training and readiness in the future. we have heard evidence from several military installations that is indicative of the first impacts to training and operations due to degraded infrastructure and installation support and if this is the case, there are indications of a broader trend to subcommittee needs to understand what the impacts are and what needs to be done to address the situation.

we often hear the department is accepting risks due to the budget constraints the congress has placed on the department. for the navy's infrastructure program this can be seen as funding sfr them below the model of 90% and in the decrease in military construction funding compared to the pre- sequestration levels we also hear that the department is managing the risk and still performing the mission. we understand and appreciate the military is can-do attitude but i would hope that today our witnesses would provide specific examples of how this risk in the enterprise has impacted military readiness workload impact military readiness. for example we need to know if the training opportunities are being lost to scale down the third or canceled because if the training functions are not adequately funded we need to know if training sessions on

missions are no longer realistic or adequate to meet current operational needs because the facilities in which such training is conducted. the full spectrum readiness recovery timelines extend beyond 2020, and even that can be accomplished only with stable funding so this has resulted from financial decisions decisions today further spending on preventative maintenance on the elements and franklyanklyanh the navy for shipbuilding and other capital assets priority is. however we cannot continue to neglect the maintenance projects without seeing the readiness being significantly affected. without fully functioning and maintaining the installations, we cannot generate the readiness that is needed and our men and women as well as our civilian personnel performing their duties around the country and

the world deserve that. i've been told that he will be making one opening statement on behalf of all the witnesses to please proceed an essay written testimony, it's already been made available to the members and will be part of the official record of. >> ranking member, and distinguished members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to discuss the impact of the reduced infrastructure and the operating support investment. i'm proud to represent more than 52,000 military and civilian personnel and their families that are dedicated to the mission of sustaining the fleet, enabling sailors supporting the navy family. joining me today mr. chairman as you said, jackson, commander of the south out of jacksonville florida and the commanding officer in the air station of

oceana virginia beach. i would also like to introduce my force master chief andrew thompson while not part of the panel is here with us today. they play him in trouble told to manage the operations particularly when it comes to the quality-of-life programs quality of life programs for sailors, civilians and families. .. to sustain our ships and their aircraft and support our military families. we are the backbone of the platform safe haven and the home of our fleet area to the enterprise as complicated as the best with the mission that expands the operating ports and airfields to the securities, child care, counseling, housing and food service just to name a few. ..

if the structure and support servicers and health and well-being of the overall force and having served as a base commander, regional commander three times and now as navy command i have experienced firsthand the challenges and any opportunity across the short domain and have made it a priority to connect with operational commanders and sailors to witness firsthand the direct impact our firsthand-- has on readiness. i've been impressed by the dedication commitment to delivering quality support we provide to our fleet, our sailors and navy family. thank you, mr. chairman, i look forward to your questions. >> i appreciate your perspective and i want to begin by asking, what categories and types of insulation-- installation services are most important to the navy in raising and sustaining readiness and as you point out with infrastructure investment being below target

goals, being below ost goals, what does the navy due to prioritize with the limited dollars as far as sustaining navy readiness? so, if you can give us an idea across which type of facilities at which areas you target the dollars you do have in order to do the most to sustain readiness? >> mr. chairman, so, our top priorities are sustaining fleet readiness and also our strategic triad, so we focus and make sure that we are funding our nuclear weapons facilities, making sure they are fully where they need to be. also, things that take care of that fleet readiness, so our shipyards and posts. we ensure they are getting the resources they need to bring them back to where they need to go. we also focus on other critical operations, runways, supporting

facilities for our airfields and ports and at the same time we need to make sure we are taking care of fire and security assets and then we will go look at our quality-of-life programs. again, making sure we are funding first and once i'm mentioned in my opening comments, childcare and programs >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and she said in your testimony, admiral, the fiscal constraints of required commanders at the pentagon in the field to prioritize critical maintenance and operation readiness needs against deferring less restoration projects, so as you note, that is not a sustainable solution in the long term. could you elaborate on the broader aspects or impacts on future readiness and quality of life for our sailors that resulted from deferring noncritical costs? >> the long-term, so, when we

take risk and now, we are pushing that risk out and so we keep an eye on that very closely and that long-term risk as we move towards that, that because what we focus on and we are putting ourselves into a reactive mode and so where we are no longer-- we don't as much look forward and are ahead of the problem and prioritize we become reactive, so we get to the point now where we don't fix things. repair facilities, in the structure that is required until it breaks and that means we take money away from things we programmed for two pics now. if it's an operational necessity or an air-conditioning and a child of elements that are, we just had this week in boiler

system go down for a child development center, so we were not expecting that and we took those funds from something else to get that facility backup to take care of our families and get the kids back. lou, i don't know if you want to extrapolate on that. >> yes, sir. i agree with the admiral and often times it feels like we are treating symptoms or not the root problem and i think the long-term sustainability of for example, hangers at oceana, we had a project that's correcting some issues at one of our hangers currently and that will be done within a couple of months. all of the hangers has issues and challenges, a lot of roofs are leaking and we have fire protection challenges, a foam used to fight aircraft specific fires and we have challenges in the hangar for that. so, we have mitigated that risk by having maintainers aware of those challenges and they communicate with the fire department, our own fire department before they do maintenance that could affect that and so that's how we mitigate those kinds of risks.

however, if i had enough money to repair all of the hangers right now, could not do it because right now, we shift and squadrons to other hangers, so there is not capacity to move all the squadrons while we are doing repairs and that's why it's crucial to have a plan laid out where it's predictable and the commodore can count on this hangar-- being repaired at this time so they can get back into their training cycle and so i think continuing on, if we don't have that sustained programmatic funding, i think, it will exponentially get more difficult to commend those risks as we move on. >> ma'am, if i could also add from a regional perspective, our process by which we are aware of the projects that are needed either because of lifecycle or because of degradations repaired over time, we have a process by

which we know that and we work closely with our war fighters to make sure we have that awareness , but as insulation commander pointed out, there is only much to go around and do so what happens is, although, we have a plan, for example, 2-inch -- change out an entire system, state hvac at missile processing plant, we end up dealing with the breakages that occur, so we will fix pieces and parts rather than holistically when the whole system needs to be fixed and so we then get hit twice because we do the small repair, but then we still have to do the longer big repair to get us back to where we need to be. >> well, i certainly could not agree more because the minute you neglected maintenance you are in trouble. but, as a follow-up, facility sustainment has taken the biggest hit in infrastructure

and base support investment since ceased frustration became the law the land, so as we look-- worked to restore regular order, i was encouraged by progress in the fiscal year 2016 budget request, which took steps to address critical maintenance needs particularly within the facility sustainment. restoration and accounts, what steps do you see or anticipate being taken to implement april 2014 osd facility sustainment policy recommend them particularly to meet meet the 7% requirement cannot so, the sustainment levels we are getting right now will just reduce the decline, so as you indicated, we are being funded to less than the 90% desired. facilities now that-- have just over 80% with the current funding level that will decrease

.5% a year, so we will be at 2.5% decrease by the end of the -- [inaudible] >> the funding we have received is slowing that decline, but we are still declining. >> thank you, and i yield back. >> we will now go to mr. scott. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my question gets to demolition of obsolete buildings. how many buildings may be currently have or are considered obsolete? >> i will have to take that for the record. for the total maybe, i do not know that. mary or lou, do you know for your particular installation? >> i can tell you this fiscal year and thinking-- i think oceanic has been i fact-- a factor in identifying some needs , but we have demolition money best year of about over

$2 million and we have some facilities about i think seven that will be demoed and those are not large facilities. those encompass a variety of things that will help create some efficiencies and how we operate on the installation. >> i know you are taking it for the record, but i would also like to know how me word demolished last year. is seems to me a tremendous amount of money could be saved if we were more aggressive and disposal of properties that we know are obsolete rather than maintaining. >> i will get you that number, but you are correct. in a pressurized fiscal budget, where we have to make decisions and there are plenty of facilities we would like to demolish and we do not demolish those because we have to put that money elsewhere, so some years in the past few years we have any zero the out account and others we have had less demolition funds than we would like to be a look to demo and as

you point out we now have-- there are still things we need to do to maintain them, plus they are eyesores. so, we are not demoing what we need to demo and we are increasing and inheriting a backlog on that and i will get you specifics. >> i think one thing that would be helpful, to the committee as well is on the private sector what you had looked at was how much am i going to pay to maintain that facility at any standard versus what does it cost me to demolish it and how many years does it take for me to get the payback, to go ahead and get rid of the building and is certainly if your return on that is over the course of two or three years it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and get rid of the building. but, those are the issues i would appreciate additional details on and other than that, thank you for your service and thank you for being here today. >> sir, if i may add from a

regional perspective when talking about demolition and i don't have exact numbers and will provide that, but dominantly when we are talking about demolition, we are in the facilities and using them for the requirements as best we can and in many cases i won't say all, but the preponderance, it's because we want to demolish and then replace it because the requirement still stands. it has evolved and perhaps there is a mission growth that we need to address, but it's not as easy as taking a building completely down to the ground and not replace it because the requirements are still very real >> if it's obsolete you would assume it's vacated if it's obsoleted and not vacated then that is the difference, so maybe you could break it down between the ones that are vacated and the ones that are not to vacated. one last question. how much do we spend, you probably can't quantify this.

how much are we spending in addition on repairs and maintenance because of the bid process where you are forced to take the lowest bid instead of the best bid, if you will, from the best contractor when the original building facility is built x. >> you are correct. i'm not sure how i can quantify that and i will have to dig into and analyze and we do go with the lowest bid. how does that impact the product we get? i don't know and i will have to do some analysis on that. >> i have said to a contractor at an airport one time he suggested he was making a very good living doing the repairs on buildings because of the dod rules forcing the cheapest bid to be accepted instead of the best contractor lad to do the job and i just wonder if there's a way that we could put some flexibility in their where when

we had contractors that we had worked with that we knew delivered a high-quality product, that we could selected them based on their products and their quality that we had instead of being forced to take the lowest bid. >> chairman, i yield the remainder of my time. >> thank you, mr. scott. i know chairman thornberry is missing-- [inaudible] >> i think that's important point and certainly something we will continue to focus on. we will now go to mr. peters. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and went to think the witnesses and i went to him give my greetings to mr. smith. speaking of my hometown, we have been battered through this el niño storm by amazing records of

levels of rain and weather patterns. we had a tornado warning in central san diego for the first time that anyone can remember. it occurs to me that there's always challenges in all of the waterside properties you have, but i wonder if you feel like we are where we need to be with respect to storm water and maintenance in the face of these kind of extreme weather events and if there is anything we should be doing together to help you with that kind of-- these kind of sudden unexpected weather events we seem to be seeing. >> thank you, sir. i will ask skipper from oceana to go to a tactical level and a second, but you are talking to our utility systems and storm water falls in our suit-- our system so whether you're talking steam plant sort energy or electricity and that is an area that is neglected over the years and so we now have a process where we enterprisewide rack and

stack those for installations and then prioritize those at the enterprise level and start getting those recapitalized across each of the installations. as you know back at coronado several years ago we lost a 14-inch water main that was a world war ii water main and that caused challenges and that's another example where we weren't expecting that and had to shift funds that were programmed it to pick else to get that waterline fixed so we could get that base up and operating. lou, do you have specifics about installation? >> oceana, i'm also responsible for mechanics and so we regularly think about the effects of major storms including hurricanes. this last year we spent over several million dollars on a shore protection system

fortifying and bringing sand from a couple miles out and providing that barrier that we need for our installation as well as doing small things like planning trees-- i think planted over 40000 along the beach line to that erosion. further inland without ever structure, it is calmly oceana came about 1943, so i imagine a lot of the piping and sewage is quite old and that is something we will keep a close eye on. >> one of the first things we did after i was elected to congress we voted $60 billion off the budget to deal with hurrican sandy. no one like spending that kind of money and he gets to the point where you are reacting there is nothing you can do but react, but we looked a lot into what to do about that and how to be prepared and in general we found that for every dollar you spend on preparedness you save about $4 on cleanup whether it's fema or small business and

probably the navy to, so i guess i'm interested in if you feel like we have a plan going forward sort of in general to prepare for these kinds of things to make sure that our bases are prepared for these kind of thing so they don't cost so much on the back end for cleanup. >> we have a plan and we try to get after that plan. when you go down to the discussion we had up front of what our priorities are, those priorities for resilience of the base from a utility perspective while obviously very important and critical don't rise the same level of making sure we get ships underway or aircraft off the decks and submarines way from the peer and making sure that our strategic assets are properly protected and so they are important. we are working at them and we are not were get them at the

rate we would like to, but we have a plan to get after them. >> i appreciate that and we are also trying to fit some destroyers into san diego also and i know you have a lot of things to balance. if there are things we can work together on, along those lines i would be appreciative to know particularly how we can plan had a little bit and make sure we are ready. again, thank you for coming and thank you all for your service. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> biggie, mr. chairman. as you know, that of the structure investment of the site is critical to dod's successful transmission, which directly impacts our national security. unique training and r&d missions of the site demand sustainable in structure, facilities and claimant to train navy sailors on how to safely operate nuclear reactors that power navy

submarines. thankfully, congress recently fully funded this important for structure program, which maintains the viability of the site and enables an effective mission and distinctive capability to continue him about what concerns me is the method of moving funds that are already allocated into infrastructure and are being redirected to operations. which could be deemed a higher priority and as i see it come of this can have significant impact on our navy's readiness, so my question is to what extent do you anticipate the method of redirecting funds from sustainment accounts over to other priorities, how much will this continue to occur and is there a potential for this redirecting to directly impact on the readiness of nuclear training locations such as the kesselring site? >> thank you, ma'am. as you indicated kessler is funded at the department of energy facility as you know and are aware and that has been fully funded. as it when funds shifted from the maintenance too operational

within go back to that priorities and making sure that it does not impact or effect the nuclear triad and the strategic facilities and requirements we need to meet, so that is our number one priority. so, from an-- from up there from up all the of my perspective, which we have right now, we make sure the quality of life mission is being met up there in saratoga springs and in kessler, so the funds to get shifted out and that's when we go to our priority list to make sure we are meeting our topline requirements and then worked down our priority list. >> great. you mentioned this earlier in sort of topped on this-- touched on this in your response and you said you had taken a deliberate level of risk on operating support function, so how are substantial nuclear training locations like kessler ring being prioritize or make it such a consideration? >> they-- i can't say they are

at the top of the list. they are at the high-end of the list specifically where they fall out, i don't know about top of my head here, but obviously we have to make sure those crews are properly trained to do their mission we have to make sure those crews are properly trained to do their mission as seat and if we do not provide the resources, the facilities, the structure-- instructors and curriculum to properly train them will not be ready to do their job, and their mission at sea, so we focus on that closely, so then when those strategic assets leave the port go to see to do the mission that they are ready to execute and carry that out on a moments notice. >> great. thank you very much and i yield back. >> we will now go to mrs. davis. >> thank you, mr. chairman and i certainly want to join my colleague in welcoming all of you here today, but the ticket early admiral smith for the exceptional work he did in san diego and as i know as you might know also, when you are in

charge of navy region southwest, southeast you are really the navy mayor for the city and that makes a big difference to individuals in san diego and i think what was striking and always encouraging was the support for the men and women who serve in our navy and really being focused on the quality of life and i know within that context, it must be especially discouraging when you say in a statement that, you know, you see some readiness disparity in the living conditions for sailors who are unaccompanied and those who are residing in family housing. you note that there are 50% readiness disparity for sailors living in the barracks and 70% for those residing in family housing, so how do we square

that, i guess? what can we do to balance the cost of modernizing the barracks while maintaining the safety of our most valuable asset and of course that is the sailors above the 50% level? >> yes, ma'am. i will as the skipper to talk a bit about the specifics that oceana and what he's doing there, but before i yield to him , as we focus on those topline priorities we also need to focus on the quality of life as you mentioned with barracks and housing and so we do take care of those, not to the-- not assesses we would like because of the funding challenges, so that timeline can get them to the quality that we want is taking longer than we desire, but we are systematically moving through those. lou has some barracks that he has program to work right now and so i would ask lou to talk specifics i his installation number facilities you have gotten which ones you're getting fixed and what that means from a

timeline perspective. >> thank you, ma'am the question. at oceana we have 13 barracks, currently 10 of them are rated substandard. i will say that we have a new barracks that is being built, a $30 million project and we are very grateful and that should be on my to march. ten, we have five that are currently being programmed unfunded to get rectified and bring back up and the moniker i use around oceana as spies when i look at public works and installation, we look at roofs, corridors, chillers and out-- fire protection and when we look at the barracks and things we are looking to make sure they are working because what are sailors and marines to have hot water in the morning and we want them to come back after an 18 hour day and go back into a cool room, so although we still have a ways to go, i think that goes to the thought that we need to have a systematic programmatic

way to make sure these funding streams continue, so that all of these barracks for the sailors and marines are brought back up to standard. >> regionally as was articulated we make sure the condition of all of our unaccompanied housing have projects on the books to be able to work through modernization and i would like to give you an example of the case where we worked through a situation where some of our rooms and unaccompanied housing in this case in new orleans, where because of some mold and a ventilation problems we had to take the rooms off-line and we just cannot have people in those rooms, so we took them off-line. we didn't have the inventory of additional rooms and had it-- it had a direct impact to the operational forces working out of new orleans, so to recode navy suites-- essentially hotel

rooms to be able to move the those service members into those rooms until we were able to put a repair for the ventilation and address the environmental issues in our you h, so we did it fix the problem again holistically, but we put a band-aid repair and we did that by working very closely with our customer, talking to them about their throughput of personnel and also make ensure that we were taking care and sometimes it's about moving people and rooms around on the chessboard in the same thing occurs when hangars when hangers go down. thank you, ma'am. >> that is a great example of how we continue to meet mission when these kind of challenges pop. so, we didn't put any single sailors out on the street. admiral jackson, her team at the base in new orleans took care of them. what we ended up doing was folks that would have used the on-base

hotel if you will had to go to a hotel out of town, so not optimal, but it took care of our sailors and assured we were beat-- they were being taken care lip until we had the problem resolved and we do that in all of our missionaries all of the time. >> thank you, mrs. davis and we will now go to mr. russell. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for your service and testimony here today. in the 2016 we were careful to on the overseas contingency dollars to try to make them more fungible so if they could be directly related to contingency support, you might have flexibility at your installations for the support and you spoke here about hangers , airfields, i mean, those our mission essential elements that we see there. can you speak to the impact that may have or will you be able to make good on some of that?

>> i'm going to have to go looking to see exactly where we are spending those dollars. i don't know where we are dividing those specifically we are using that budget line and what resources, what facilities to take care up, so i zero you that. >> sir, in fy 11 and 12 in my southeast region we were dependent on zero go in the millions and last year we are worth half a million funds and it went into my poured ops program primarily for contracts to take care of some of the boss support in my ports, so that will give you an example. i think we have worked hard to not be dependent on that and that is where we have been moving. >> we would all like to not be dependent on mac, but i think a bipartisan fashion, what we saw was there was a need and we try to buy little flex ability.

it is bailing wire and duct tape, but maybe it can go-- you spoke to a quality-of-life and having spent time in the military i understand how important that is especially during deployments. can you address that specific when what your concerns are on the shortfalls because it is not often addressed and is usually last on the list and i would be interested in your thoughts there. >> so, when sequestration occurred we had reduce a lot of our quality of life facilities, so we reduced hours in the gems. we reduced hours in our single sailor facilities and we have been able to now by some of that back, but when the budget starts getting pressurized more, that's where we go, so we still provide jim hours and so provide the resources, we just don't provide the volume of it. just this year we have gone back

and increased our jim hours and additional four hours every day and that has been well received. we are doing-- we are increasing right now some of our cdc hours, single sailor hours have come back and soak we watch that closely and i really watch that in our facilities that, what i referred to as over the horizon, so not metro areas where there is not much to do outside the gate. also, from a prioritization standpoint we focus overseas, focus remote areas and then focus in the metro areas. lou, you could probably give some examples at the installation level of how you focus on quality of life and how you prioritize what you do and don't do. >> thanks for the question, sir. i know that for fleet and family support, those are crucial for quality-of-life for sailors and families and the peace of mind when a sailor or marinas deployed their family can go to a resource, which they know they can get support. recently the navy has initiated

two programs i think a wonderful. the navy goldstar program, two programs that are very poor and as you know, but a program we are in the process of phasing out is the relocation assistance program, so in a perfect world we would be a keep all of these programs, but we know that it's up to reality and how do we mitigate that? well, we ask other entities on our insulation to see if they can assist in managing that relocation assistance. >> you bring up a good point on the mitigation. in fact, there is a lot of political hype that made about why do we have commissaries, why do have base exchanges, why do we have those sorts of things, but i don't think there is a clear understanding to the impact of those dollars that come into the end of your programs and if you have sailors in a gym, they are fit sailors and that affects readiness and so could you speak to that a little bit? >> i know for a fact that our sailors love and their families

love activity that we have on the installation. might nwr team is very robust and whether it is family fast we have quarterly or events around the holidays especially for those families whose husbands or wives are deployed or children employed it goes a long way and provides a great piece of mine, so i think there are viable and a great part and make each of the readiness is there and speaking from first-hand experience, i know that's when i'm flying combat missions over afghanistan, what allows me to do that is to know that my family's well cared for back home, both within the fence line of oceana as well as outside the fence line in the community of virginia beach, which is wonderful and we have a wonderful relationship with the community there. as the neck we have an expectation that our commanding officers are getting a pulse on what their commands need and sometimes it is hard to quantify whether they are happy and getting the resources they need, so it happens through

communication, the constant drumbeat with the tenants making sure through command meetings and through the senior enlisted command master chief's and whether they are not getting what they need and then we tailor it, so admiral smith talked about what we might do over the horizon location because of where they are, maybe they are remote, maybe a better resources in town and then we can also tailor that modified and we have the ability to modified maybe hours or the services they are getting or provide more of one thing like more outdoor recreational facilities because of where they are versus another. then, another layer of that is what we do outside with the community and those relationships with the community and building support, so that it is not just very insular at the installation, but it's layered and we get amazing support from all of our communities. but, it's about our team getting out there and educating to make in those relationships. >> if i may, so i have had the

privilege of visiting 69 of our 70 installations and eu-- what i focus on when i glanced in the back of insulation as i said want to see worst stuff and i went to see what you're most proud of and i went to see her quality-of-life seven so i get into the gym's and negatively and family service center and navy core relief. i want to see that stuff. i went to understand because we are pressurized and we have challenges and i want to know that installation ask as a challenge and installation why has a challenge and i want to know which one is worse because that's what i will focus on to get fixed and then we also look in remote areas, so as we go back to saratoga springs, we don't have a gym on the facility, so we have a partnership with the ymca there locally and we buy memberships for a sailors in a families. so, because i want to make sure they can be out in the community. i want to make sure they can have a place where their kids to

do stuff and they can go to the gym. i can't do that on the base, so we do that at the ymca, so we focus on that very carefully wherever we are to make sure our families are being taking care of. we aren't all voluntary navy and all voluntary force that the figure or families the next thank you. >> admiral smith, i am trying to again sort of get the timeline of the 2013 budget resolution, the one we just passed in the fall and just sort of how that sort of, you know, is flowing in you-- into your decision-making process and you described a moment ago how you were able to restore some gym hours, which i guess was sometime in 2015, so obviously you were still living with, you know, the two-year 2013 budget resolution and now, we have a new list but is three weeks old and just, again, if

you could just tee that our little bit with what you are anticipating. have you digested that even? >> there are some things we have been able to buy back, so i've mentioned we take risk and ground maintenance. we have bought back ground maintenance. ground maintenance isn't just necessarily how pretty the base looks because i think it's important, but is also important writer airfield. these concerns about airfield because we are not maintaining the ground and it brings in rodents and birds, a breeze in air strikes i becomes a safety mission impact, so we've been able to buy that back a bit. we have buybacks in the hours at the gym, but back some of the hours are child developer centers, so it's not huge gains, it's inch-- incremental gains. >> can you give a percentage? is it like half? >> can you expand that clinic in

terms of game-- gains, obviously -- >> let's just use the gym for example. we were at-- i think we are at 90 a week and we have gone up 212. that's example. childcare, it was 12 and we are trying to go 16 and in some places where going to 14, so it's a couple hours here, a couple hours there, but in the case of childcare if you have someone who has to be at work at 5:00 a.m. in the cdc is not open at 5:00 a.m., they were open at 5:00 a.m., they were open at 6:00 a.m. and we are now starting to slowly roll out getting them open at 5:00 a.m. and i can't just turn a switch or do that because i have you through the hiring process, training, security vetting, but we are slowly working, but again it's small stuff, but it does make a difference to the quality of life or families. >> i think probably having these nailbiting, you know, moments when we finally get stuck dawn

doesn't make it any easier for you in terms of planning, but as i said we finally now have a plan in place and the horizon is clear at least october 1, and we have a budget resolution that goes into 2017, so again, in terms of just your job, you know, are you in a better place than you were in 2014? >> i am in a better plus-- place. >> admiral, you look like you want to jump in. >> so, we get the operating report from them down to the region and he gives us predict ability. it gets as the book ability to article he to our tenants what operating level they can expect an kind of takes out that angst of not really knowing what type and what level of service the common operating level of services they might get, so we are able to articulate that and then there is a better understanding and that's good.

it also gives us the ability to stay online with preventative maintenance. we are still though in reactive mode often, but that predict ability planning and then planning our project, having them on the shelf and ready so we can execute early as opposed to waiting, waiting, waiting and then getting inside and not been able to execute is also very valuable. >> again, the two-year budget resolution, i think, was healthy moving forward and hopefully we can continue that without torturing you guys. admiral, again, you are welcome to come up to your old stomping grounds anytime. >> so, i was up there last winter and i will be up there the thursday before easter visiting a base. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman and think each of you for your

service. was wondering giving the funding that will con accounts below the models requirement or the past few years, what level of investment and over what. of time do you think will be necessary to fully restore the readiness of our installations and our facilities? >> the current funding level will not be able to fully restore our installations. we are getting-- there's very little military construction dollars coming. the amount that we get budgeted for this not meet the requirement that we have. so, while the budget we have now is helping us make progress in moving forward, it does not meet the need that we have over the long-term. >> you indicated that earlier that you are decreasing, you

have 90% and you talked about an index of 80 and something about it decreasing at to have% or something, i don't remember the numbers, but can you give us the dollar amounts? how much money would you want congress to invest in this of the structure in order to help make up the shortfall and to help you catch back up to where you need to be? >> can i get back to you on that >> sure. >> maybe i can give you some numbers that we have looked at norwegian, so in a region southeast we have 16000 facilities. of those facilities the plant replacement value for those facilities is 23.3 billion. i have conditioned indices for all those facilities and the percentage by value of those

facilities that are in the poor or failing category is 42%, so 42% of 23.3 billion and then what you need to get them better will give you a rough idea, but that's a number that i have. thank you, ma'am. >> i look forward to getting those figures because it's certainly very important that we have at least an idea of the goals of what is needed to fully have our infrastructure where dcb, so that's very helpful. just as we go out and talk to the public and others about this , reduce readiness and the concerns we have with the budget cuts. it really helps to have a specific examples that we can use and i appreciate your example, captain, about the hangar issue. that makes sense as people come back from deployment to be able to get in there, but can you give me some more specific

examples of the decrease in readiness of our navy because they haven't had the money that you have needed for the at the structure investments that we have, so if you could give me three or four examples like the hangar that would be helpful. >> so, mr. corti just left, but i can give one. pure 15 at there, which is the one we have, we did our periodic inspection and found it was more deteriorated than we thought so we had to take that off-line. we have mitigations in place in case we had to do an emergency dry docking it will now go to electric boat and we will lease floating dry dock and we have to put a submarine floating drydock in there in an emergency. we went to get that thing back online as soon as possible for the next scheduled dry docking so we are fixing that, but we have taken those resources, other things we would have done fixed, a lesser importance to