COCHRAN LAUDS U.S. NAVY & MARINES AS “GOOD NEIGHBORS”
IN PROMPT RECOVERY EFFORTS IN JAPANESE DISASTER AREA

Senate Hearing Reviews FY12 Budget Requests, Challenges Posed by FY11 Budget Stalemate

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today commended ongoing efforts by the U.S. Navy and Marines to assist the nation of Japan in its emergency recovery efforts following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Cochran, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, addressed the response to the Japanese disaster at a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review the FY2012 budget requests for the Department of the Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

“The United States Navy and the Marine Corps are being good neighbors to the Japanese in a time of crisis while maintaining their leadership in defending our national interests around the world.  This is a commendable feat,” said Cochran, the ranking Republican on the defense subcommittee.

Questioned by Cochran, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos offered a review of the Department of the Navy’s emergency response activities to assist the Japanese recovery effort, including the deployment of personnel, ships and equipment.

Mabus explained that Navy vessels, fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, in addition to Marine assets, are being used to help deliver Japanese emergency response personnel and humanitarian aid to areas destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami.  He also discussed efforts to protect Navy personnel stationed in Japan, as well as activities to monitor radiation exposure threat levels to U.S. personnel and equipment in the region due to damage to nuclear power facilities in the area.

“We are very involved in all aspects of the relief effort in Japan,” Mabus told the subcommittee.  “We have, or will soon have, 14 ships and more than 10,000 people in Japan or in the waters off Japan to do humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”

The Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee is conducting a series of hearings to review the FY2012 budget requests for the Armed Forces, which are currently being funded under continuing resolutions based on FY2010 funding levels.

During today’s hearings, Mabus, Amos and Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, discussed the budgetary hardships faced by the Navy under continuing resolutions, including the delay of Navy programs, shipbuilding contracts and military construction projects.

For FY2012, the Department of the Navy budget recommends $161.4 billion to sustain current and future readiness in FY2012, which is $800 million or 0.4 percent above the FY2011 requested level.  In addition, the Navy and Marine Corps request an additional $15.0 billion in FY2012 to support ongoing Overseas Contingency Operations.