Wittman legislation to withhold congressional pay took courage

Recently, I read that our defense budget was signed into law on time for the first time in 10 years and want to thank Congressman Wittman for his part in making that happen.

I’ve known Rob Wittman over six years since meeting him at a veteran’s roundtable in Woodbridge.  He discussed how continuing resolutions kick the can down the road.  The result: passing budgets that hurt the ability of our military to plan how to combat current and future threats. 

Congressman Wittman was advocating for this years before we had a Defense Secretary like General Mattis who unapologetically called all of Congress out on it. Wittman has gone so far as to introduce legislation that withholds congressional member pay if a budget isn’t passed on time. That took courage.

It’s unfortunate but sadly typical for lives to be lost in the USS Fitzgerald collision last year before most of Congress to understand what Congressman Wittman was warning all along: lack of training and too old equipment leads to loss of life. He handled the collision investigation very well, not being afraid to hold the military accountable when he needed to while also using it to finally push Congress into action. 

Now that we have a defense budget signed into law, there is no longer a question for the Pentagon how much money they will have six weeks or six months from now. They can recruit more soldiers, make necessary restructuring to combat threats, and decide how to stay ahead of adversaries like China and Russia.