OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Statement By SASC Chairman John McCain On U.S. Carrier Exercises In Western Pacific

Statement

Date: Nov. 11, 2017
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense Government Budget and Spending

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement today on the Department of Defense conducting U.S. aircraft carrier exercises in the Western Pacific:

"I commend the Department of Defense for conducting operations with three aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific for the first time in a decade. We must maintain our warfighting advantage in high-end naval operations to deter adversaries and assure allies.

"Too often exercises like this, which are critical to maintaining tactical proficiency, are sacrificed due to higher priority operations, maintenance delays, or fiscal constraints. While this exercise is encouraging, the reality remains that our Navy is underfunded, overtasked, and too small. This year's National Defense Authorization Act will help address this problem by increasing funding for the Navy, including authorizing 5 additional ships and hundreds of millions of dollars for maintenance above and beyond the President's budget request."


Source
arrow_upward