WASHINGTON – As a Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) yesterday questioned Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford regarding the Department of Defense’s FY2018 budget request.

Sen. Moran questioned Sec. Mattis and Gen. Dunford regarding the need to rebalance Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) across the force as the Army increases end strength. In addition, Sen. Moran highlighted his flight in Textron’s Scorpion jet during a recent visit in Wichita to emphasize the need for the light-attack aircraft.  

Click here to watch Senator Mornan’s questioning. 

Sen. Moran (0:05): “I was able to visit in this setting not too many days ago with General Milley regarding end strength levels beyond the FY2017 NDAA mandate. I want to have a conversation about how those brigades will be divided, and what kind of brigades we need. The new threat environment, I assume in your assessment, means that we are going to need to rebalance those brigade structures, with the Russian aggression, our reassurance efforts, and the conversation this morning about Afghanistan. I do know that back-to-back armor brigade combat team deployments to Europe is occurring. I know that the Big Red One in Kansas is a part of that – we will have 4,000 of those soldiers with the 2nd Armored BCT this fall. What do you believe, Mr. Secretary, is the right mix of light armor, light attack armor and advise and assist brigades and consequently where will the BCTs require training?”

Sec. Mattis (1:35): “Those brigades will be joining the general purpose force, so what we do is look at what is a threat as best as we can determine. I would tell you sir that as we put this proposal forward if we do not remove the Budget Control Act caps and we bring those troops in, the only way we will be able to pay them two years from now, is by stopping, again, modernization. So there is a danger here to even discuss this if we don’t look at the broader budgetary horizon.”

Gen. Dunford (2:20): “Senator when we talk full spectrum what we are really saying is that the United States of America given our security challenges can’t prepare for Russia and China, or violent extremism. We have to prepare for all of those challenges. Two areas we have found now to be very stressed. One is armored brigades, even the rotation now as you know is a pretty tight turn. What that impacts is the amount of time that our soldiers are home, but it also affects the amount of training that they are able to do across the spectrum. Right now even our armored brigades have been singularly focused on violent extremism and the challenges in Syria than we would like to have. Increasing the armored capacity is something that General Milley has spoken about. In terms of the advise and assist brigades, that is an initiative that the army has been working on now for a couple of years. General Milley’s leadership has put that over the goal line. Our methodology for dealing with the violent extremism problem in particular is to train local forces, so they can assume responsibility for securing their countries. Those advise and assist brigades are designed exactly to do that. I would emphasize one point the Secretary made and that is our caution in growing capacity now without certainty about what the next several years would be. In other words, the worst thing we could do now is to grow capacity and then not have the funds available to properly train and equip those units. I do believe we will have to grow, I think the defense security review that the Secretary will lead will indicate a need to grow in capacity. Balance means two things, it means being prepared to deal with threats across the spectrum and it also means we have a balance in our training equipment and personnel to ensure the units are whole.”

Sen. Moran (4:45): “I recently took a backseat ride in a light attack fighter, the Scorpion, over the skies of Kansas. I want to highlight for you this issue that we are going through a process of a new attack fighter, developed by the private sector, and would want you to respond perhaps – and take one for the record – about its value to the entire military. At the moment there is a focus by the Air Force, but I have the view that it has a value to a broader way of our military efforts.”

Sec. Mattis (5:18): “Yes sir, we are on board with it. The first test was done at CENTCOM, and I am keenly aware of that test. We are watching it closely and it has a lot of promise.”

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WASHINGTON – During a recent Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) questioned the Chief of Staff of the Army General Mark Milley regarding the U.S. Army’s FY2018 budget request. In particular, Sen. Moran asked the General about the proposed increase to troop end strength and the need to rebalance Brigade Combat Teams across the force, highlighting the need for additional Armored Brigade Combat Teams. The 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley currently has two Armored Brigade Combat Teams. 

Click here to watch the hearing.

Sen. Moran (0:01): “Mr. Secretary and General Milley, thank you for your presence today. I understand that the army’s unfunded requirements list includes a $3.1 billion increase… to end strength beyond the FY2017 NDAA mandate. New threat of environments in my view need for potentially rebalancing the brigade combat team structure. Army planning to address Russian aggression includes back-to-back armored brigade combat team deployments to Europe. In fact, we are sending 4,000 Big Red One soldiers with the 2nd Armored BCT to Europe this fall. I want to hear a discussion about what you believe is the right mix between light attack armored and advise and assist brigade combat teams (BCTs).”

Gen. Milley (1:03): “The mix of the force has long been debated and depends on what you are doing at the moment in time. We shredded artillery, long range fires, air defense artillery, lot of armor units, in order to fight the current fight we have been engaged for the last 16 years. As the emerging environment becomes ever more clear, we now know that probably we need to re-balance the force with additional armor capability. We are going to go ahead and add a 15th armor brigade and convert another infantry brigade to an armor brigade for a total of 16 across the board. The Security Force Assistance Brigades, we are going to introduce those. Our end state is five or six and we will see how the pilot program goes. Those brigades will increase the readiness of the force by not ripping apart existing brigades, provide a valuable service as advisors, and then if in the worst case we had to rapidly expand the army, those brigades would have coherent chains of command from staff sergeant on up that we could rapidly expand the army by at least four or five brigades relatively quickly by adding soldiers to existing chains of commands.”

Sen. Moran (3:16): “General, thank you for that information. I want to make certain that I bring up the topic of advise and assist BCTs and their training, and particularly as it relates to Fort Riley. The availability of year-round space and useable acres ought to be a significant component of any decision process that is going on, and I just want your assurance that you will allow us to have a conversation with you in regard to Fort Riley and its capabilities in that regard.”

Gen. Milley (3:50): “Absolutely. We have settled on the 1st Brigade to go to Benning and it is also where we’re setting up the security force’s schoolhouse. There will be a training capacity there and we are going to set up the 1st Brigade at Fort Benning, GA. The follow on brigades have not yet been decided and we have not done the analysis and we will consider all the factors of all the various stations and installations around the country to include Fort Riley as part of that calculation. For sure you and your office will be included in that discussion.”

Sen. Moran (4:18): “Appreciate that very much. Air space is another component of that. I wanted to talk to you about cyber as well. I know that the senator from Alabama has done so, but I would like to see some coordination between reserve, guard, and active as well as the various branches of the service. I will submit a question in writing. I wanted to take the opportunity first of all to say I am pleased the administration nominated Ryan McCarthy. My understanding is you have a history with him and I am looking forward to that being a team that accomplishes a lot on behalf of our nation. I also wanted to remind you General Milley that during the budget hearings you and I agreed to go to Fort Riley together and I would love that still to happen. I would take this opportunity to say that tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the 1st Infantry Division – long time history of defending our nation. The Big Red One, we were at the monument yesterday by the White House. D-Day yesterday and Big Red One tomorrow. It is a historic time for the army. But it is also a time for us to recollect, respect and express our gratitude to those who give us the opportunity to have the opportunity to have this conversation today.”

Gen. Milley (5:34): “Thanks, Senator. Couldn’t agree more. Big Red One is a great division. Fort Riley is a great post and I will do better at coordinating my schedule with yours and get that trip planned."

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) today questioned Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue regarding the USDA’s efforts to aid Kansans working to recover from the devastating wildfires in the southwestern part of the state earlier this year during a Senate Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee hearing.

Click here to watch the hearing. Highlights can be found below.

Sen. Moran (0:52): “First of all I want to thank Mr. Young. In your absence, before you were confirmed, he was the acting secretary. He responded forthwith to concerns that I had about fires in Kansas. We had a number of counties significantly devastated by wildfires. Clark County in particular, nearly all of the county was burned. I think the number is 700,000 acres in Kansas were burned by wildfires. Ironically, sadly, two weeks later the rains come.”

Sec. Perdue (1:28): “Snow.”

Sen. Moran (1:29): “Snow came. The good news is that you saw green begin to appear in places that were black just a few days before. It will take a long time, decades, perhaps generations, for a recovery to occur. There are three areas that I wanted to highlight for you in regard to the federal government’s response to those fires. First of all, we’ve had some staffing issues in FSA offices where the workload increased dramatically. And recently there has been approval for two additional positions at the FSA county office in Clark County. We are pleased with that and anxious for those positions to be filled, and appreciate the restructuring in order to meet the current demands for FSA services.”

Sen. Moran (2:15): “Three areas of concern. The emergency conservation program. This generally is a way in which ranchers can be compensated for loss of fencing. We had fire previously in the adjoining county, Barber County, the so-called Anderson Creek fire. It took a year for ranchers to actually be compensated for the loss of their fence. It was a year before the payments began. Here’s the problem with the program, I would welcome your help: there is no advance payment for that disaster. You get your fence rebuilt and then you submit the bill. Here’s something that strikes me as nearly impossible to handle – when you lose your cattle, you’ve lost your collateral. How do you go to the bank and borrow money to build fence when you have little or no collateral to back up that loan? This program in my view needs to be changed - with your help - in which it is like other disaster payments. It is a payment that occurs at the time of the disaster, the money then used to rebuild, in this case the fence. We were able with the help of Mr. Young to get the commitment of USDA that the payments could occur over a period of time in stages, so you could fix part of your fence and submit the bill, and that’s a step in the right direction. It’s an improvement and we appreciate the flexibility that was demonstrated in that response. But the program doesn’t work… the way it should for a disaster. So I would encourage you to work with me and others to see if we can’t alter the way that program works.”

Sen. Moran (3:51): “The second part, and I think we’ve been assured at least there’s flexibility in regard to the specifications of the kind of fence. Kansas is also an oil and gas producing state and so we have oilfield pipe. It’s a way you can build fences and it’s much cheaper than buying new fencing. Many ranchers would take that option. We believe we have the approval of USDA to allow that to happen, we’ve received those assurances. But what I need from you is if there are issues that come up, we need your common sense, your Georgia background, to say we’re not – this isn’t about the actual specifications, this is about whether you’re building a good fence. I don’t know a single rancher in Kansas who wants to build a fence that won’t last generations. That’s the kind of fence that was destroyed in the fire, was fence that had been there for 70, 80, a hundred years. So I need your cooperation as those issues arise to step in and help us make certain that common sense prevails.”

Sen. Moran (4:47): “And then finally, payment limitations under the livestock indemnity program. This is where you might actually get compensated for your loss of cattle… The Kansas Livestock Association estimates that there’s been 4,000 and 8,000 head of cattle that died in this fire. The payment limitation is such that it is per… business organization, farm organization, and I think farmers over time have figured out how to organize their farming operation as a result of the laws related to payment limitations. Ranchers have never thought about this and so almost without exception every one of our livestock producers is limited by the payment limitation. And we need to make certain that there is a way in which brothers and fathers, and sons and daughters who have not organized their ranching operation in a way to satisfy payment limitations issues are not harmed. A $125,000 payment limitation does not go very far with the loss of up to 8,000 cattle.”

Sen. Moran (5:53): “So those are three areas I wanted to highlight for you. Some of what I’m saying is complimentary, the other is a forewarning that we’ll be knocking at your door asking for your assistance, guidance, direction and leadership in making certain that a terrible situation is handled as best we can with common sense and compassion.”

Sec. Perdue (6:16): “Well I hope that I would demonstrate to you and to the producers that are affected not only in Kansas but across the country, common sense and compassion. Those are two virtues that I value very much… The fencing was a silly kind of thing and I think that can be easily determined. The payment limitations on the livestock indemnity program, I’m not sure if those are statutory in the farm bill, or if there’s any flexibility there. I’ll get the answer to that question… I do understand certainly the business organization structure that you’ve talked about, and many of the production agricultures have taken that step. And your producers could do that easily. I think it would be a matter of how we determine what those limitations are in light of the fact that those are not legal separations. I’ll be happy to talk with you about what a real solution is on that. Certainly the reimbursement on the fencing on the ECP on those kinds of things from a reimbursement standpoint, we know that fencing is very expensive and you’re right, sometimes when you’re wiped out you don’t really have cash or collateral to go borrow to create that. So I’ll explore that as well. I appreciate Acting Secretary Young in giving the flexibility. What I will commit to you: this USDA will implement all the flexibility, these kind of programs and these sort of disaster places that we have under the statute, and if we don’t feel like they are optimal from a statutory perspective, we’ll inform you of that and ask you to correct that in the next farm bill.”

Sen. Moran (8:06): “I thank you for your flexibility and I commit to you that I’ll work with you to accomplish those goals.”

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today applauded Senate passage of their resolution, S. Res. 115, to formally recognize the 100th anniversary of the First Infantry Division – officially nicknamed “The Big Red One” – based at Fort Riley, Kan. The division was organized on June 8, 1917. U.S. Representative Roger Marshall (R-KS-01) has introduced a companion resolution, H. Res. 267, in the U.S. House.

“Since 1917, Big Red One soldiers have fought bravely and sacrificed to protect our nation from global threats,” said Sen. Moran. “On the 100th anniversary of the First Infantry Division, we honor the efforts of all who have served and continue to serve in the Big Red One to defend so many lives, protect our American ideals and preserve freedom for all.”

“Known around the world for their heroism and their distinctive ‘Big Red One’ shoulder patch, the U.S. Army’s First Infantry Division has led our fighting forces and protected our nation from threats around the world for 100 years,” said Sen. Roberts. “I am proud to introduce this resolution to recognize the valiant efforts of these men and women in uniform and to honor those of the First Infantry Division who have made the ultimate sacrifice during their service to our nation. As their motto states: ‘No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great, Duty First!’ It is an honor to represent Ft. Riley and the First Infantry Division.”

As members of the first permanent combined arms division of the U.S. Army, soldiers of the Big Red One have been among our nation’s greatest fighting forces in conflicts around the globe since World War I. Big Red One fighting forces are memorialized at monuments throughout the United States and Europe, including Normandy, France, overlooking Omaha Beach and sites in Belgium and the Czech Republic as well as our nation’s capital on the White House grounds.

On Tuesday, June 6, the anniversary of D-Day, Sen. Moran visited the Big Red One Memorial in Washington, D.C. and paid tribute to Big Red One soldiers alongside retired former Commanding Generals of the 1st Infantry Division, including General Carter Ham, LTG Bob Durbin and LTG Kenneth Hunzeker.

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