Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz Statement at the Innovative Techniques in Military Construction Hearing

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25), Ranking Member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on Innovative Techniques in Military Construction:

- As Prepared for Delivery -

Thank you for yielding, Judge Carter. I look forward to another year of working together to invest in quality services and benefits for our veterans, ensure our military readiness, and improve the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families.

I appreciate the interest my friend, Judge Carter, has in this important topic and I look forward to a productive conversation about the ways in which this subcommittee can help bring innovation into military construction.

Before I address this topic, however, I want to take us back to last fiscal year’s hearings where I, along with the other Democratic members of this subcommittee, shared our concerns with reported proposals for twenty-two percent cuts to funding levels. At that time, there was a bipartisan consensus that cuts to the vital programs funded in this subcommittee should not happen. 

Yet, now a couple of months into the Trump Administration, we are seeing cuts under a different name, implementing the illegal playbook of Project 2025. 

Under the guise of “waste, fraud, and abuse” the administration is planning to cut 80,000 VA jobs and is cancelling nearly 600 contracts, endangering Veteran’s access to timely and sufficient care and benefits. Beyond the VA, the administration is firing Veterans in numerous agencies across the country and cutting other programs that veterans rely on, such as SNAP and Medicaid.

I refuse to let veterans and the direct services we provide to them be defined as “government waste.” That is utterly appalling and a complete betrayal of the men and women who have put their lives on the line in service to our country. 

Veterans and people who care for them are not government waste.

These cuts and firings are causing immediate impacts on veterans like Ben, who was recently interviewed by the publication, “Task and Purpose.” Ben is a disabled veteran who had a positive job performance review while working at the Department of Agriculture, where he helped other veterans with grants to fix health and safety hazards in their homes.

Yet Ben was inexplicably fired in the careless, cruel approach President Trump and Elon Musk have taken to cut jobs across the federal government.

Meanwhile, internationally, our allies are left scrambling as Secretary Hegseth focuses his attention on Fox News culture war priorities, rather than deterring Russia and our competitors abroad. 

The Secretary spent his first days banning books in DOD schools, restoring base names that honored confederate soldiers, and banning qualified individuals who are serving honorably from serving in our military just because of their gender identity.

If the goal here today is to promote innovative forms of military construction and improve the readiness of our Armed Forces, I would argue that indiscriminately firing 5,400 DOD employees is the wrong move.

Improving our military installations’ resiliency against extreme weather should be a priority, not firing generals for political grievances. 

Investing in construction methods that could speed the delivery of housing for our servicemembers should be a priority, not spending nearly $50,000 of taxpayers’ money to paint the Secretary’s government furnished house and pretending it’s an emergency.

Reducing the cost of our military construction projects should be a priority, not threatening tariffs on our allies – which we know will only cause steel and timber prices to skyrocket.

I am hopeful we will have a fruitful conversation on the ways we can reduce barriers to alternative construction methods and drive innovation in military construction.

The length and expense of the military construction process is a challenge and it impacts the number of projects which can be funded in any given year. 

This problem only grows more acute as the Services are increasingly building in expensive, remote areas like Guam.

I hope the ideas we discuss here today can be a part of the solution to these increasing costs and to the costs over the full lifecycle of our military facilities.

Moreover, we know the devastating impact natural disasters had on military bases in recent years. From hurricane damage in my home state at Tyndall Air Force Base and MacDill Air Force Base after Helene and Milton, to the devastation on Guam from Typhoon Mawar.

We cannot bury our heads in the sand and ignore the climate threat to our military installations. Investments in resiliency now, will save us billions of dollars in recovery later on.

Some alternative building materials, such as mass timber, represent a possible solution to making installations more resilient to extreme weather events, while also reducing the Services’ carbon footprint and contribution to the climate change problem.

When it comes to mass timber products, details matter. For mass timber to truly be part of a climate solution, it must be sourced in a sustainable way.

When this does occur, mass timber products provide a benefit of carbon storage as well as reduced carbon emissions compared to traditional materials like concrete and steel.

However, I have concerns with how this administration has already been stewarding our land and resources. 

Recklessly clearcutting forests, cutting down old-growth trees, or ignoring the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws is shortsighted and dangerous.

I would like to thank the four witnesses for being here today and for their expert testimony. 

I yield back.

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