{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcsally.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/us-rep-mcsally-hammers-arbitrary-force-level-restrictions", "U.S. Rep. McSally Hammers Arbitrary Force Level Restrictions", "2016-12-01", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Martha McSally", "M001197", "mcsally.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Representative Martha McSally today hammered the Administration\u2019s arbitrary Iraq and Afghanistan troop level restrictions, known as Force Management Levels, and their impact on completing the mission. Questioning former military generals and a member of a government watchdog agency during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Rep. McSally referenced her own experience commanding an A-10 fighter squadron and leading CODELs to Afghanistan to highlight flaws in the Administration\u2019s current troop policy.\n\u201cI led a CODEL back to Afghanistan, and have been there myself in uniform, and have deep concerns seeing what we\u2019re talking about here first-hand \u2013 with also commanders and others spending a tremendous amount of time to find workarounds and measure the jerry-rigging in order to comply,\u201d she said.  \n\t\u00a0\n  \n\tResponding to the question of what the alternative to establishing \u201crandom numbers\u201d would be, Rep. McSally said:\n\u201cIt would be to set strategic objectives in these theaters, identify what we\u2019re trying to do, and figure out what we need to get the mission done \u2013 and then that ends up being the number.\u201d\nIn 2015 and 2016, Rep. McSally led a Congressional delegation of women lawmakers to Afghanistan to meet with U.S. service members and commanders on the ground and receive mission briefings on military operations in the region. In her questioning, she highlighted the practice of commanders using temporary workarounds, such as placing units on Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY), in order to deploy units to combat zones while staying below force level caps.\n\u201cWhen I was there in the spring, we had entire units TDY\u2019ed to Helmand Province to help stop the bleeding there. You don\u2019t go TDY to Helmand Province, you go TDY to Nellis Air Force Base. To be calling TDY to a combat zone, to be out there addressing the combat situation is ridiculous and that\u2019s what these random force management levels have created.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\nClosing out her questioning, Rep. McSally requested from the Government Accountability Office an analysis of the costs of hosting critical capabilities, such as Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), outside of countries where they are needed to include financial costs and the risk to troops\u2019 lives.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcsally.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/us-rep-mcsally-hammers-arbitrary-force-level-restrictions"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9689000435173512, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}