Observing Recent Interesting Comments on the Hill

I was watching some video over at the House Armed Services Committee, disappointed at the video quality of Wednesday's BMD hearing actually since it appears to miss a good deal of the first part of the hearing.

Dr. Eric Labs (pdf)
Senior Analyst
Congressional Budget Office

Mr. Ronald O’Rourke (pdf)
Specialist in Naval Affairs
Congressional Research Service

Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D. (pdf)
Chief Executive Officer
The Lexington Institute

For those of you who don't follow these hearings, a few points. Chellie Pingree seems like a nice lady, but she needs to spend a month at Bath Iron Works. While I don't think the shipyard is in any danger with or without a strong Congressional leader, in year two she still seems like a deer in the headlights. Her district is why she is on the committee, I get it, but it's hard to be that clueless if they are generally interested in seapower. Don't make the woman argument either, because Susan Collins is sharp as a tact on the topic of shipbuilding and the Navy.

My favorite freshman on the Seapower subcommittee though is Rep. Eric Massa, a fellow New Yorker. Start watching this video at about 18:10 and let it play. Great questions until about 22:10, when he gets a bit sarcastic (and I laughed) asking Loren Thompson if we should put the 3 Seawolf class and 3 DDG-1000s together to form some synergy for bastard shipbuilding programs. I enjoyed the implied point. Supporting only 3 Seawolf class subs is expensive, and supporting only 3 DDG-1000s will be expensive too. At about 23:00 the topic of Mayport comes up, and Loren Thompson unloads with the economic argument. Rep. Massa follows that question up with a LCS question to Ronald O'Rourke, and all I'll say is some might be interested in that discussion. It is worth watching the rest of that video to the end with Gene Taylor's closing questions and comments.

After being entertained by what little of what was available, I scrolled down a bit and watched the hearing held on Wednesday, January 13, 2024 of the full Committee meeting that received testimony on China. The guest list included:

The Honorable Wallace C. Gregson (pdf)
Assistant Secretary of Defense
Department of Defense

Admiral Robert F. Willard, USN (pdf)
Commander, U.S. Pacific Command

Mr. David B. Shear (pdf)
Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Department of State

Mostly dull stuff actually, until Congressman Randy Forbes gets the microphone. There are some games being played here by Mr. Forbes with the numbers, nothing major, but the point is really good. Congressman Forbes also appears to have a good staff, because they have given us 5 great minutes on YouTube.

Transparency indeed.