IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 994 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 
Marine Corps faces significant readiness challenges and that budgetary 
uncertainty impedes the Corps’ ability to meet ongoing and unexpected 
national security threats, putting United States national security at risk. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 16, 2018 
Mr. GALLAGHER (for himself, Ms. CHENEY, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. BYRNE, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. COOK, 
and Mr. ABRAHAM) submitted the following resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Armed Services 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States Marine Corps faces significant readi-
ness challenges and that budgetary uncertainty impedes 
the Corps’ ability to meet ongoing and unexpected na-
tional security threats, putting United States national 
security at risk. 
Whereas since fiscal year 2010, United States Marine Corps 
active duty end strength has shrunk by 8 percent from 
202,100 to 186,000; 
Whereas, on March 1, 2016, Marine Corps Commandant 
Robert Neller stated, ‘‘The fiscal reductions and insta-
bility of the past few years have impacted our readiness. 
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•HRES 994 IH 
As resources have diminished, the Marine Corps has pro-
tected the near-term operational readiness of its deployed 
and next-to-deploy units in order to meet operational 
commitments. This has come at a risk’’; 
Whereas, on February 26, 2015, now Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs 
of 
Staff 
Joseph 
F. 
Dunford 
stated, 
‘‘[a]pproximately half of our non-deployed units—and 
those are the ones that provide the bench to respond to 
unforeseen contingencies—are suffering personnel, equip-
ment and training shortfalls’’; 
Whereas, on February 8, 2017, Assistant Commandant 
Glenn Walters stated, ‘‘A focus on [ongoing] operations, 
the decrease in funding levels from Fiscal Year (FY) 
2012, fiscal instability and the lack of an inter-war pe-
riod have left your Marine Corps insufficiently manned, 
trained and equipped across the depth of the force to op-
erate in an evolving operational environment’’; 
Whereas the Marine Corps’ Assault Amphibious Vehicle 
(AAV–7A1) and Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) average 
over 40 and 26 years old, respectively; 
Whereas the Marine Corps has a stated requirement for 38 
amphibious ships to support the operations of 2 Marine 
Expeditionary Brigades, but the amphibious fleet num-
bers only 32 ships today; 
Whereas former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan 
Greenert testified on March 12, 2014, that, ‘‘[t]oday, in 
the world that we live in, the world that the Navy and 
Marine Corps lives in, and the future, we probably need 
50 [amphibious ships]’’; 
Whereas, on April 5, 2017, Marine Corps leaders testified 
that, ‘‘The most dire readiness situation lies within our 
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Aviation element. An unhealthy percentage of our avia-
tion units lack the minimum number of ready basic air-
craft (RBA) for training, and we are significantly short 
ready aircraft for wartime requirements. We simply do 
not have the available aircraft to meet our squadrons’ re-
quirements’’; 
Whereas during parts of 2016, only 43 percent of the Marine 
Corps’ total aviation fleet was available for operational 
employment, including less than 1⁄3 of its F/A–18 Hor-
nets; 
Whereas from fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2017, Ma-
rine Corps aviation accidents increased by 80 percent 
from 56 to 101 per year; 
Whereas between 2011 and 2017, aviation accidents killed 
more than 60 Marines, including 19 over a 2-month pe-
riod in 2017; and 
Whereas, on March 10, 2017, Deputy Commandant Gary L. 
Thomas stated, ‘‘Unstable fiscal environments prevent 
the deliberately planned, sustained effort needed to re-
cover current readiness of our legacy equipment in the 
near term, and to modernize in the longer term . . . We 
must work to avoid a budget-driven strategy and return 
to a strategy-driven budget, informed by the strategic re-
quirements of the current and future operating environ-
ments. Unless we do so, the range of options we have to 
address current and future threats will further erode’’: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes that the United States Marine 
Corps faces significant readiness challenges, as well 
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as shortfalls in end strength and delayed moderniza-
tion; 
(2) finds that failing to provide the Marine 
Corps with stable, robust, and on-time funding im-
pedes its ability to meet ongoing and unexpected se-
curity threats, putting United States national secu-
rity at risk; and 
(3) commits to enhancing the Marine Corps’ 
ability to meet our Nation’s threats ‘‘In the air, on 
land, and sea’’. 
Æ 
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