chairman wittman: i knew it. [laughter] chairman wittman: i knew it, i knew it. fantastic. she only does., good morning. i want to think all of you for being here for the readiness hearing on the 2017 budget requests and readiness posture. , and inthe first december and january the services testified on increase readiness risks. today i look forward to hearing how the air force budget request enables a readiness recovery plan and where we continue to take risk. welcome all of our experts. this morning we have with this general david goldfein, within a general john raymond, then a general -- lieutenant general john cooper. thank you all for testifying today. we look forward to your thoughts and insights on these important issues. the purpose of this hearing for the committee to receive clarification on air force choices for its budget request. funding priorities, and gather more detail on the current and future impacts of these decisions on operations and training. , i want to thank our witnesses for participating. i would now like to turn to our liking member for any remark

wittman and mr. walz for working with our committee to protect hunting and shooting hair damages. you know, one of the things i, as well as many of my colleagues here hear repeatedly from our constituents that the complaint that land management agencies have blocked access to federal lands. and that especially goes for hunters and anglers and target shooters. our national monuments alone, those national monuments have already closed 928,000 acres to hunting and recreational shooting and most of those areas are unfortunately easily accessible. you don't have to walk miles to try to get to them. there are some across -- there are some who condemn this by saying, well, the vast majority of public lands are still open for hunting and shooting and the problem is the proximity, the ones that are being closed are those easily accessible, especially those that live in urban areas, those that don't have to go miles and miles to do it. the bureau of land management make no impact on closing lands to shooters o

randy wittman hasn't been on the sideline. he missed the last twogying the sudden lost of his older brother rick wittman. he got news early saturday morning after the houston game. they missed him. losing to o.k.c. monday and tomorrowed wednesday by steph curry and the warriors. it withman with his family. erin hawksworth has more. erin: wizards host the sixers tonight. tip-off at 7:00. this is an emotional game. head coach randy wittman's first game back since his older brother passed away last week. the two were very close. on the flip side, this is an opportunity for the wizards to snap a losing streak. they did lose two straight games. but those were against two good teams. for the sixers this is the first time the wizards played them this season. they were very good against philadelphia last season. hopefully they will continue the trend come tonight. we will have highlights at 11:00. robert: thank you. super bowl 50 this sunday but a high school coach is celebrating already. loudoun's county michael bernet named the don

chairman wittman: i knew it. [laughter] chairman wittman: i knew it, i knew it. fantastic. she always does, she only does. good morning. i want to think all of you for being here for the readiness hearing on the 2017 budget requests and readiness posture. this is the first of four hearings, and in december and january the services testified on increase readiness risks. heg how the air force budget request enables a readiness recovery plan and where we continue to take risk. welcome all of our experts. this morning we have with this general david goldfein, within a general john raymond, then a general -- lieutenant general john cooper. thank you all for testifying today. we look forward to your thoughts and insights on these important issues. the purpose of this hearing for the committee to receive clarification on air force choices for its budget request. funding priorities, and gather more detail on the current and future impacts of these decisions on operations and training. , i want to thank our witnesses for participating. i would now like to turn to our liking member f

wittman, seek recognition? mr. wittman: mr. chairman, i rise to claim time in opposition of the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. wittman: thank you. this amends the definition of public target ranges in title 2 and the definition of public target range in pittman-robertson funding. this amendment is unnecessary because it prohibits behavior which is already against the law. this is impractical. administers of public ranges would not know who is good or not. requiring background checks would largely undermine the other purposes of the bill, like expanding access to ranges. this amendment does not distinguish between public target ranges that allow only archery versus those that allow only firearm use. amendment would prohibit ertain persons access. access to the background check is strictly prohibited by law and cannot screen people just because they want to use a target range. the safari club international oppose this amendment. with that, mr. chairman, i reserve the balanc

chairman wittman: i knew it. [laughter] chairman wittman: i knew it, i knew it. fantastic. she always does, she only does. good morning. i want to think all of you for being here for the readiness hearing on the 2017 budget requests and readiness posture. this is the first of four hearings, and in december and january the services testified on increase readiness risks. heg how the air force budget request enables a readiness recovery plan and where we continue to take risk. welcome all of our experts. this morning we have with this general david goldfein, within a general john raymond, then a general -- lieutenant general john cooper. thank

wittman: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the gentleman from georgia for yielding and thank you for his -- thank him for his leadership. as you've heard, this is just a commonsense bill. and i rise in strong support of s. 1580, the competitive services act. i want to thank my colleague from virginia, jerry connolly, for his effort, along with my staff in putting together this house version of this bill. it's just a commonsense, bicameral, bipartisan bill that allows agencies in a very complex and competitive world to aggressively and timely recruit individuals for these positions. we want to get individuals into those positions quickly. we want to understand where the talent lies so that these agencies can communicate back and forth many times -- forth, many times that silo approach doesn't work. that breaks down these silos and allows the agencies to share information about these applicants. in today's world, when we need to in a timely way get folks into the cybersecurity realm, we need to get folks into t

robert: would you say this is a randy wittman problem? kevin: i would not. i think randy can coach in the players know he can coach. they all know that he can coach. right now, they have to be healthy. robert: so he is not on the hot seat. kevin: i don't think he is. out of thet that ordinary for people to be fired. randy is a good coach. he knows basketball. a have had more injuries this year than any team in the nba in terms of loss of man hours. they have to get healthy. erin: kevin sheehan with espn up next, george washington sow this afternoon. erin: welcome back. colonialsalle, the needing a victory to keep their tournament hopes alive, and they took it out on lasalle. from downtown, scoring 52 first-half points. the colonials win, 90-50 the final. headgeorge washington's coach arrived five years ago, he found it difficult to recruit from the top local names. he had to get creative and added international flavor, which has contributed to their success. >> d.c. really feels like buenos aires for me. star,for the colonials just into washington was easy.

injuries, butof randy wittman is doing a good job for the wizards. robert: i think so too. you are coming from the penn state, ohio state game, let's talk about ohio state. a team that is very dear to you. it seems like ohio state had their number this year. in maryland this year had the big ten championship game against ohio state in overtime. last year ohio state was suffering with injuries, they did not have the depth as they went to maryland. state is back, they haven't for injured players , they aremaryland playing great, but ohio state balance inside and out. maryland in their first game played at five games in seven or eight today's, so factor in that, that is not an excuse, just stating a possible reason. in the second game, i spoke with the coat about those two wins, and he told me today that in the second game, ohio state played their best game of the season from top to bottom. this is a team that does not rebound well. maryland is with leading in that regard. when you have ohio state shoot the bell well against a defensive team like maryland, it is tough to stop

randy wittman back on the sidelines after missing the last two games, grieving the death of his brotherey needed him tonight against the sixers. wiz up 36-18. gary neal with the circuit shot, baseline, larry bird-esque. pretty much behind the basket, don't know how he hit that. bradley beal with some fancy dribbling. third quarter, the was up 72-51. john wall, to bradley beal, who shows off the hops. qiz win 106-94. wall messed around and got a triple-double. -- wiz win 106-94. nannetteounty's don was named coach of the year, nominated by the redskins. $25,000, 50% of which will go to his school's football program. just honored and grateful to stand herein represent the unbelievable hours and commitments that not only the coaches at their wives also make. it is an honor. it is a beautiful game. he will be the torchbearers in the future. thank you very much. robert: the super bowl is two days away. lincoln county, north carolina, look at the highway sign. are these predictions? that is not it. this next sign says denver seven, newton 20. these are signs, not saying anything. pga, the bob

randy wittman was asked by a gets theif john wall recognition he deserves nationally.t is an interesting question. someone made the argument that wall is not the biggest star in washington, possibly behind the popularity of ovechkin, bryce harper. but it seems the wizards star is recognized when it matters most. he did earn a spot on the all-star team. he was named the eastern conference player of the month for december. >> who determines that? .ou have got to go out and play you have got to go out and win. you want recognition? be a winner and play yourbutt off. that is how you get recognition. and john has gotten it. congratulations to maryland's men's best ball team. they are now ranked number two. leon: we like that. all right. coming up, must-see video. a leopard wanders into a school. where this happens and where it -- and what happened afterwards. (elephant sound) there's a big difference between making noise, (tapping sound) and making sense. (elephant sound) (donkey sound) when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president need

wittman walker health.t whitman walker peer education center there is a celebration underway. 30 teens just completed a 12-week long boot camp. it focuses on sexually transmitted diseases and prevention but it is more than the typical sex ed class. >> we are a wa conversation -- lack of conversations in schools so train peers to talk to their peers about the topic. leon: not just talk but hand out safe sex supplies. part of a program called real talk d.c. the youth is listening. 16-year-old shakira says she was shy at the start of it but now she is recognizing for excel and outreach. >> it's leadership. the quality to and we have to have the confidence. some people are rude. >> in six months high school junior has gone from the boot camp to peer ambassador. a paid position. >> they don't just teach you about it. you learn the skills to help run your life. >> like the resume writing and the interviewing skills. they gain something more important. >> community doing something good. i'm going to help others. >

the neck or rob wittman adjustment and central -- the nicaraguan adjustment act allowed hundreds of thousands to remain in the u.s. and this legislation was the combination of almost two decades of intense advocacy on the part of an unlikely coalition of the political left and political right. there are many other examples i could highlight here about the importance of advocacy. i have a new book coming out in the spring and i discuss many other cases of the importance of advocacy. advocacy has been key in the verycold war period, important in shaping the contours of our refugee and asylum policies. factors three other that have affected policy in the post-cold war era. a growing number of asylum seekers. who can tell me the difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker. >> [inaudible] ms. garcia: much has to do with where you are asking for protection. a refugee is identified for resettlement in the u.s. a refugee might come under the attention of the united nation commission for refugees who then contacts the u.s. or another country and asks if that person can be resettled in the person

how about with this huge and surprising endorsement, former new jersey, christieç todd wittman, backingdonald trump. fort worth, announced his own new jersey endorsement, governor chris christie. why would a high profile member of the establishment throw his support now behind donald j. trump. here is how christie explained his decision. >> i am proud to be here to endorse donald trump for president of the united states. we sat down family. do we want to play any role in the campaign, or not. i concluded, along with mary pat and the children support it, that we wanted to be with the person that could provide the strongest leadership for america and the person that could best make sure that hillary clinton never gets within ten mielles o the white house. it was clear, the only choice was donald trump. the best choice was donald trump. the last thing is, our family is one that prides loyalty. and the fact is, we've been good presents with donald and his family for many years. i don't send smoke signals. i'm endorsing the person i believe is the best person to defeat hillary clintonç and

wittman. i t wyatt i -- >> i join my colleagues in introducing h.r. 2406, the sportsman heritage and enhancement act. this bipartisan package of legislation protects and advances hunting, andling and shooting traditions and promotes fish and wildlife conservation act. it pasted the 113th and 112th congress with bipartisan support and the natural resources committee voted in favor of the bill. h.r. 2406 is supported by the nation's leading hunting and fishing conservation organizations which represents millions of sportsmen and women across the nation. this will expand opportunities for hunting and fishing and promote conservation particularly on federal lands. in many parts of the country, american men and women rely on federal lands to hunt and shoot and would require the bureau of land management to keep land open for hunting, fishing and shooting. the bill requires the national parks service or office of national marine sank tu areas to consult with state and wildlife agencies and give them

. >> change chairman wittman and distinguished members of the subcommittee. on behalf of our air force secretary and chief of staff, it's an honor to be with you today and a privilege to sit beside these two great airmen and in front of these incredible airmen. together we're honored to represent the 660,000 total force airmen serving today and we request our written statement be placed in the record. a little over 25 years ago then captain dave goldfeinpiloted an f-16 fighter in the opening hours of operation desert storm. during ground were that followed the air campaign, the air force along with our fellow joint and coalition partners provided by the same blanket of air power that had shielded u.s. forces since april of 1953. the last time an american service member was killed by enemy aircraft. in addition to providing top cover, america's airmen defended the base perimeter, refuelled and maintained aircraft, controlled air traffic, managed supply lines, tended to our wounded, air dropped humanitarian aid and supported the joint team with global vigilance