Senator Murray Emphasizes Need to Deliver for Military Families, Keep Pace with Adversaries at Hearing on Air Force and Space Force Budgets

"As Vice Chair Collins just talked about, it is so important that we return to regular order and work to pass our funding bills in a timely, bipartisan way, which is what we are really focused on doing. If we are going to keep pace with our adversaries like China and others, that means our investments have to keep pace too. We can't fall behind, and we certainly can't fall into uncertainty due to partisan gridlock.

It is really important that we remember that includes getting our military families support like child care, mental health care, good housing, schools--because really at the end of the day our best aircraft can't go very far without the brave and talented men and women who pilot them and work to keep our country safe,

The President's budget seeks to address this critical issue, and it includes a standardized Child Development Center employee discount for child care workers, and the Air Force has previously I know run a pilot program to provide additional benefits to center employees. What other tools has the Air Force used to support current employees and future hires to keep these Child Development Centers fully staffed?

As our competitors around the world continue to closely link their space industries and militaries, they can quickly put new technology into the field. We need to make sure we're doing the same if we want to stay ahead of our adversaries. Washington state is home to a number of cutting-edge commercial space companies that are developing really revolutionary technologies, and I believe this is the kind of innovation we should be supporting. How are you working with the rapidly growing space industry in Washington state and, really, elsewhere to bring new technologies and capabilities to our military?"

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