{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/manchin-young-ernst-vela-palmer-lead-members-in-calling-on-ndaa-conferees-to-save-chief-management-officer-uphold-accountability-at-dod", "Manchin, Young, Ernst, Vela, Palmer Lead Members In Calling On NDAA Conferees To Save Chief Management Officer, Uphold Accountability At DOD", "2020-09-25", "2020", "2020-09", "Democrat", "House", "WV", "Joe Manchin", "M001183", "www.manchin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "September 25, 2020\n\t\t\t Manchin, Young, Ernst, Vela, Palmer Lead Members In Calling On NDAA Conferees To Save Chief Management Officer, Uphold Accountability At DOD \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington,\r\nDC  Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Todd Young (R-IN), Joni Ernst\r\n(R-IA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Doug Jones\r\n(D-AL), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representatives Filemon Vela (D-TX-34),\r\nGary Palmer (R-AL-66), Jim Baird (R-IN-4), Andy Biggs (R-AZ-5), and Bennie\r\nThompson (D-MS-2) sent a letter to the National Defense Authorization Act\r\n(NDAA) conferees urging them to save the Chief Management Officer (CMO)\r\nposition which is tasked with reforming the Department of Defense (DoD) to\r\nimprove performance and increase accountability. The\r\nMembers said in part,\r\nAs you begin conference negotiations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National\r\nDefense Authorization Act (NDAA), we write to urge the preservation of the Chief\r\nManagement Officer (CMO) position, which Section 901 of the House-passed bill\r\nand Section 911 of the Senate-passed bill seek to prematurely terminate.\r\nDespite these provisions, the CMO has broad bipartisan and bicameral support\r\nAs Members of Congress we all have a responsibility to the American taxpayers\r\nto work to achieve the objectives of the National Defense Strategy (NDS) as\r\nefficiently as possible, and the CMO position is essential to accomplishing\r\nthat goal. One\r\npager on the CMO position can be found here. The\r\nfollowing organizations support retaining the CMO position: The\r\nHeritage Foundation, FreedomWorks,\r\nCitizens\r\nAgainst Government Waste, Center\r\nfor American Progress Read\r\nthe full letter below or click here.  Dear\r\nChairmen Inhofe and Smith, Ranking Members Reed and Thornberry, and Conferees: As\r\nyou begin conference negotiations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense\r\nAuthorization Act (NDAA), we write to urge the preservation of the Chief\r\nManagement Officer (CMO) position, which Section 901 of the House-passed bill\r\nand Section 911 of the Senate-passed bill seek to prematurely terminate.\r\nDespite these provisions, the CMO has broad bipartisan and bicameral support. The\r\nCMO position has the vital task of reforming the Department of Defense (DoD) to\r\nimprove performance and increase accountability, key tenets of the National\r\nDefense Strategy (NDS). As Members of Congress we all have a responsibility to\r\nthe American taxpayers to work to achieve the objectives of the NDS as\r\nefficiently as possible, and the CMO position is essential to accomplishing\r\nthat goal. In\r\n2018, more than fifteen years after the Government Accountability Office (GAO)\r\ninitially recommended the establishment of a standalone CMO position, the\r\nFiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) finally authorized\r\nthe creation of a CMO as third-in-command at DoD to ensure that they would have\r\nrequisite resources to do their job. Congress approved this structure because\r\nall previous efforts undertaken by DoD had failed to achieve the\r\ntransformational business reform necessary to improve readiness and our ability\r\nto respond to rapidly developing threats. Alarmingly, both the House and\r\nSenate-passed FY21 NDAA bills would abruptly terminate the CMO position and\r\ntransfer those responsibilities back to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. We\r\nalready tried that in 2007. It did not work. The\r\nfundamental problem plaguing the CMO position is a lack of authority and\r\nresources. Rather than further eroding the limited authority that currently\r\nexists, we should come together to demonstrate the broad, bipartisan support\r\nthat exists for this important position. Congress should reaffirm our mandate\r\nfor cost savings from the DoD by requiring the Secretary of Defense to issue an\r\nofficial charter for the position of CMO to codify that position's authority\r\nwithin the hierarchy of the Department. The DoD has already concurred with this\r\nrecommendation. Let us come together  Democrats and Republicans  to give DoD\r\nthe resources it needs to get the job done. Our\r\ncurrent CMO, Lisa Hershman, was only confirmed to the position by the Senate on\r\nDecember 19, 2019. The initial 2005 GAO study that recommended the\r\nestablishment of this position recommended a lengthy tenure of 5-7 years. This\r\nperiod of time would allow the CMO to overcome the learning curve of entering\r\nthe DoD from the outside, have multiple budget cycles to correct mistakes and\r\nmake systemic reforms, as well as bridge presidential terms to reduce the\r\ninfluence of politics on the position. Let us at least give Ms. Hershman a\r\nfighting chance, and come together to adopt the changes needed to make this position\r\nwork. The U.S. taxpayers that we represent deserve that. The\r\nretention of the CMO position not only has bipartisan support in both the House\r\nand Senate, it is endorsed by outside organizations such as the Heritage\r\nFoundation, FreedomWorks, Citizens Against Government Waste, and the Center for\r\nAmerican Progress. We commend you on your leadership and commitment to our\r\nServicemembers, and we look forward to working with you to protect and preserve\r\nthe CMO position within DoD to better support our men and women in uniform and\r\nincrease our ability to respond effectively to rapidly developing threats.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 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://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/manchin-young-ernst-vela-palmer-lead-members-in-calling-on-ndaa-conferees-to-save-chief-management-officer-uphold-accountability-at-dod"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1340549681335688, "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"}