That nationwide the continues to see the effect break havoc in this country. What will you do to improve the voting and there it is again. I would like to see open primaries everywhere. Federal voting holidafederal vor registration in 18 years of age we have joel here to join us. You will hear it again. And the automatic voter registration. Lets start with the congressman on this money and if you can be specific on the primaries of the voting i think it is a great solution we should have been in the state of florida. I think republicans should embrace this because we can grow the party by embracing the conservative solutions that appeal to independents and those that are no Party Affiliations so i would say yes to the open primaries and on the other issue whatever makes the voting more accessible and successful so we have greater participation. Congressman. First i have to introduce legislation for this purpose as i indicated before it introduced more than any other member and i introduced the bill for democracy david makes the federal elections in federal holiday and gives people an opportunity to vote. We have a lot of people in my district that worked one job, maybe two jobs and sometimes even three jobs and they work on tuesday so it makes it hard for them to vote. Another thing in favor of is in colorado tintolerant of a meal y single voter a ballot. You can either use it or go and vote on election day obviously you cant do both i think that has elevated the turnout enormously just as it has an organ which is a mailin ballot only. Beyond that we have to accept the fundamental idea that its fundamentally wrong. I favor a constitutional amendment that declares the right to vote. Apart from the cases of murder or sex crimes. We have firstclass citizens into secondclass citizens and thats wrong. When you served your time you paid your debt for society should be able to build and protect yourself in the political system and have the same rights as everybody else. Host congressman johnny did you find a problem if they disenfranchised a significant percentage of some folks in the country if they dont have the voter id . Jolly personae that reasonably and responsibly wants to do so. I dont think we have time for another questions we will go to closing statements. Congressman will go first. Grayson and divided to have the opportunity to address the issues of the day. You will notice that paper versus plastic never came u out and the choice of diet coke versus coke zero is not a debate in my house. Finally the American People get to see what its like since there are members of congress. Struggling with the great issues of today this is what it is all about. Its the way politics want to be. We shouldnt be talking about how much we are sweating or how big your fingers may be. [laughter] on that issue we have not [inaudible] [laughter] it is florida. We are both struggling with this issue. The issue is rising inequality in the country. We want people to be at the beginning, that we have economic inequality, social inequality. People are struggling to remain in the middle class. So, the question is whether you are talking about a student loan or social security, whatever it may be. What are you going to do about it and what have you done to fix it . My organization i mentioned for Research Committee have been awarded a get out every year. They give to the person that stunned the most and i helped name the award. I want to win that one day. I want to be the same champion as claude was in florida for an entire generation or more. Florida needs a champion for seniors and workers and for you. Host congressman. Jolly thank you. It is warm in here not because of the context of ideas. I tell you what, every single day i tried to lay it out on the line. When i opened up this debate tonight, i said ive been fighting for florida for two years. I asking for the opportunity to continue to do that again. Our veterans need Better Health care. Lets give them the choice where they receive it. When our soldiers dont have an increased its figh lets fight. When we have children ready for school at investing student nutrition, dropout and reintegration programs and making the ged more affordable and accessible for people who want it. And yes, when the president is wrong on issues of National Security i and on overregulation that is reducing services and is crippling an economy and parts of florida that need it the most, lets stand up and say theres a better way to do it. I started by talking about the stuff packed. Its probably no better reform that we can do right now. Get congress back to work. This context of ideas that weve had tonight is what we should be giving his candidates and members of congress, so i introduced the stuff packed. Its why we have the site to ask people to join us in the movement more than a campaign. Thank you for tuning in and be opening Debate Coalition and each of you for participating tonight. This has been a great night. Thank you. Host thank you gentlemen, congressman, so very much. We have so much we didnt get to that that proves the strength and the debate of the questions. I want to thank both of the congressman for being here in the open Debate Coalition. Our partners, americans for tax reform and progressive change institute, and for everybody who submitted questions and for the nearly half a million votes that we got to decide which questions were answered them as a thank you so much to the public that followed along. Host if you like the style of debate and want to ask questions Going Forward at the president ial level and congressional level throughout the country, but in order to do that you have to impress the representatives this is the right way to do this. You watch and get your family and friends to watch. If youre on facebook right now, share and like it and otherwise, go to floridaopendebate. Com and make sure everybody gets the word on this. Congressman, thank you and for all of you at home watching, thank you as well. Of the program. This is one hour and 15 minutes. The Committee Meets today to consider the status of the 35 joint Strike Fighter program as we preview the fiscal year 2017 budget request. I welcome the witnesses. Under secretary defense for Acquisition Technology and logistics frank kendal, director of Operational Tests and observations doctor michael gilmore, Program Executive officer for the f35, Christopher Bogdan and director of acquisition for the management for the Government Accountability office, michael sullivan. That f35 joined Strike Fighter program is the largest Acquisition Program and the department of defense history. The full capabilities of the aircraft will eventually provide are critical to americas National Security. Our ability to detour our potential adversaries around the globe and if necessary respond with overwhelming force to any future conflicts that may require military intervention. At the same time, the f35 performance has been a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule and performance and it is a textbook example of why this committee has placed such a high priority on reforming the broken defense acquisition system. The f35 schedule for development has now stretched to more than 15 years and costs more than doubled from original estimates. The aircraft deliveries amounted to no more than a trickle as a result of the original promises of the program. The original f35 promised 1,013 f35. Of all variances would be delivered by the end of the fiscal year 2016. In reality, we will have 179. Because the air force marines and navy were all counting on the f35 that never appeared, combat aircraft into the strike capacity shortfalls in all three services have reached critical levels, severely impacting readiness and ultimately limiting the departments ability to meet the requirements of the defense strategy. In the fiscal year 2017 budget request, dozens more aircraft are being deterred from future Years Defense Plan resulting in a situation where the last f35 will be delivered in 2040. I cannot fathom how this strategy makes any sense. Purchasing combat aircraft with a 40yearold design in my lighf all of the testimony the committee has received about how our potential adversaries are rapidly catching up with and in some cases matching americas military technological advantages. The problems with maintenance, diagnostic software the fuel system problems and structural cracks from the Service Testing and engine reliability deficits, limitations on the escape system that caused the pilot wage restrictions in the potential cyber vulnerabilities. This list is as troubling as it is long in a long last we are approaching the end of the wrong nightmare known as chemical, the currency. The illadvised simultaneous testing production of the complex and technologically challenging Weapon Systems the department estimates will end up costing the american taxpayers 1. 8 billion. Many questions remain, such as the total number of the aircraft the nation should buy or can even afford. The cost of the future upgrades to keep the aircraft in the face of an ever evolving threat and the management of the administration of the socalled joint program the general bogdan himself admitted theyve 20 to 25 commonality across three variances as compared to the original goal of 70 to 90 . The f35 a. , b. And c. Are essentially three distinct aircraft with significantly Different Missions and capability requirements. The illusion of the joint is perpetuated by the structure of the joint program stifles the proper alignment of responsibility and accountability of the program that is so desperately needed. Theres also questions as to when the System Development and demonstration phase will actually be completed so that an initial Operational Test and evaluation can begin. Originally scheduled to conclude in 2017, we have every indication to schedul the schede pressures like the extend sdd well into the fiscal year 2018. Im very concerne concerned thae department may attempt to take shortcuts by deterring the Mission Capability content into the leader blocked upgrades and by doing so change the fighter once again by delaying the necessary capabilities. The f35 was designed to replace multiple aircraft of the services. Thats why he Operational Testing and evaluation must be of such a high fidelity. There can be no question in the mind of the American People that their gigantic investment in this program will pay off with greatly improved capabilities that far surpass the Mission Capabilities of all these individual combat aircraft. The congress will not likely allow any more of these legacy aircraft to be retired from service until there is no doubt the f35 can adequately replace them and nor is the congress likely to entertain a blocked by werther multiyear procurement scheme until the initial Operational Test and evaluation is completed. In a positive milestone decision is to commence the production both of which i understand are scheduled to occur in fiscal year 2019. The department appears to be considering managing the f35 followon modernization that is estimated to cost over 8 billion for the first block to upgrade within the Overall Program. This is incredible giving the department dismal track record on these upgrade programs as the modernization upgrade will show. I see no evidence that the dod process has improved to a level that would remove the need for the separate Nature DefenseAcquisition Program that would enable close scrutiny by congress. Moreover, i expect the department to use fixed price contracts for the modernization effort in order to protect the taxpayers. The programs many stalls there are some positive signs for the f35. The marines declared a Operational Capability in arizona and are preparing for their first f35 overseas deployment next year. Air force personnel at the base in utah will fly and maintain aircraft preparing for the air force this fall. David for the latest lots of the f3f35 a war fighting successfy with a reliabilit the reliabilir fighting capability as compared to the earlier aircraft. General bogdan has since steadily pushed down the aircraft Procurement Unit cost with liability metrics on the rise and each aircraft delivery possessing increasingly effective war fighting capabilities. All of this is a testament to the hard work of military and civilian personnel inside of the program today. They are doing their best to overcome this kind of decisions taken long ago and they are having success in important areas. However, there is a lot of development to complete in the program and when it becomes a potential for more problems and schedule delays and increased cost this committee will remain steadfast in its oversight responsibilities to ensure that the war fighters get the capabilities they need on time and at a reasonable cost. Thank you very much. Hold on just one second. Since the koran is now present i ask the committee to consider the list of 920 pending military nominations including a list of the nominations of the general brooks, usa to be Commander United Nations command u. S. Forces korea, generalpurpose usa to be commander u. S. European command and supreme allied Commander Europe commander general robinson, usaf to be commander u. S. Northern command or north American AerospaceDefense Command paid all these nominations have been before the committee is required the length of time. Time. Is there a motion to favorably report these 920 so moved. All in favor . The motion carries. Senator reid. Thank you mr. Tremaine. I join you in welcoming the witnesses today. We are grateful for your service. Thank you very much. Today we will seek a better understanding of the progress that the person is making fielding the joint Strike Fighter, wit, with actions thas taken to inaugurate the problems in the program, what is the best judgment available of how the actions will be preventing problems in the Program Including additional cost overruns and delays. Overall the Production Program has been delivering unexpected cost reductions and aircraft wants. However, we still have to complete the system developed and the demonstration on the sdd program is expected to deliver in the war fighting capability each of the three variances of the f35. We may not have seen all the potential schedule changes. Since not all of the present difficulties are behind us. According to the testimony although the marine corps declared the Additional Air force plan to do so later this calendar year, the f35 system remains immature and provides limited combat capabilities with the start of the initial Operational Test evaluation just over one year away. Doctor gilmore also assesses that the f35 program will not be ready until the calendar year 18 at the soonest and these assessments are of concern. Several years ago we required to estimate the initial dates for the capabilities as the variances in the marine corps declared them last year in july and the air force is scheduled to declare later this year and the navy is scheduled in 2018. The marine corps was based on a version of the program into the air force declaration will be based on the block three software into the navy declaration will be based on the block three software version. Until recently in order to support the dates, the Program Office has been working on the versions of both blocks three e. And three f. Of the software simultaneously. The block Free Software depends on having a baseline for the block three. The Contractor Team working on multiple releases of software, the correcting issues and achieving Software Stability has proven elusive. Working on the practice simultaneously was intended to save time at that time was lost in the projec project have to be because of mistakes made in the concurrency. In the past year they lost work on the software until the problems in the block three. The software could be sorted out. We need to understand what effect this may have on the Overall Program schedule. Beyond that we are planning for the upgrades in the capability to the Development Efforts for the Block Program that will likely be a multibilliondollar effort and we want to make sure that we do not repeat past mistakes. Beyond the sdd program, theres there isa larger issue of the co sustain. These estimates are that 1 trillion. We need to understand what the department is doing to reduce these costs. If we do nothing we reduce the risk of allowing the cost to sustain and support the f35 to reduce the Funds Available for the investment in the future. The committee has been a strong supporter from the beginning however we must continue our vigilance so that there is a balance between f35 and other important dod acquisitions. Thank you for calling the hearing mr. Chairman. I welcome the witnesses. Thank you chairman. Minority leader, members of the committee, im ha