that progress reflects not only the personal commitment of our former colleague secretary john mchugh but also the professionalism and commitment of ms. kathryn condon, the executive director of the national cemetery -- army national cemetery program and the superintendent of arlington cemetery. as i look at the issues that still must, need to be addressed, these two appear to rise above all the rest. first, what is the corrective action and funding that will be required to resolve the nearly 14,000 critical deficiencies cited in the arlington grave accountability effort? and, send, should the department of veterans affairs assume responsibility for arlington it national cemetery and the cemetery at the soldiers home here in the district of columbia? before i introduce our witnesses, let me recognize in turn representative susan davis, the ranking member of the military personnel committee, and chairman rob whitman of the oversight investigation subcommittee and mr. jim cooper, the ranking member of the oversight investigation subcommittee for any opening remarks they might wish to ma

we're resuming testimony from army secretary john mchugh and chief of staff general ray odierno. >> -- by 50 this drastic cut. how you arrived at 50%? particularly since the budget is documented itself says we have a backlog of equipment that has to be reset. >> well, we do have a backlog, as we retro grade out of -- we've retrograde out of one theater and retrograde out of the other. but we had to fit in the reset program within our entire budget allocation. we tried to do it in a way that would ensure that the rates are sustainable so at least in the near term, we're not causing any work disruption or work interruptions. so it was both a strategy but also a budget decision that, you know, was one of those hard ones that i spoke about. but we think it will keep the lines open and progressing as we go through this fit. >> 50% will be able to keep the lines moving? >> i think -- it's a steep hill to go off. >> in the base budget, we sustain 50% but there's also a piece of oco that will be used to fund this. that's where the rest of this will come out of iraq and afghanistan. >> i they'

secretary, i'm very grateful to be seated in the john mchugh seat -- chair. and so it's a great honor to follow you in supporting military personnel. so thank you so much for your service. and general odierno, one of the highlights of my congressional service, we knew of your success in iraq. but when we came to be briefed and you came up with a diagram, what appeared to be the state of virginia, and you explained that this indicates a high-level of violence where northern virginia would be the heighth, but then the surge and then it led to the eastern shore and so it was a diagram that could be understood by anyone and so your success is just greatly appreciated by me. with that, though, i'm really concerned about the administration's budget. and in particular, mr. secretary, the extraordinary fee increases in regard to tricare. we have commitments to our service members, our veterans and the service that our young people make is just extraordinary. and their families. and sadly, the administration is proposing a tricare fee increase, fy '13 of 30 to 78%. an

archbishop voluntarily removed that last line even after john mchugh overruled rutherford urging militaryeak the law. nearly 300,000 catholics are serving on active duty. roughly 20% of our armed forces by this evening. controversy had spread from the white house and hhs to armed forces worldwide and boomer rang back to the floor of the united states senate. >> what this is really about is what it needs to be about. women and their health care needs. not partisan politics. not- >> -- this is a huge mistake that i hope the administration is currently reconsidering if they don't, congress will act. >> white house late tonight pushed back against some reports elsewhere in the media suggesting that mr. obama was blinking and preparing to resource course on this. it will work with the catholic church to asswage its concerns when this does get implemented, shep? >> james rosen in d.c. newt gingrich and rick santorum both, you know, point out that mitt romney isn't much different than president obama when it comes to contraception. in fact maybe not different at all. here is the former house spe

that reflects not only the personal commitment of secretary john mchugh, but also the professionalism and commitment of ms. katherine condon, executive director of the national cemeteries -- i'm a national cemetery program and mr. patrick callanan and superintendent of redington cemetery. as i look at the issues that still must need to be addressed, these do appear to rise above all the rest. first, what is the correct reduction in funding that will be required to resolve the nearly 14,000 critical deficiencies cited in the arlington grave accountability effort? and second, should the department of veterans affairs kit the cemetery of the soldiers home here in columbia? before introducer witnesses, let me recognize intern representative susan davis, the ranking member of the military personnel committee and chairman rob portman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee and mr. jim cooper, ranking member of the oversight and investigations subcommittee for any opening remarks they might wish to make. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the hearing today. general mcallen. i