Congressman Matt Gaetz sent “breaking news” to the media that he had gotten Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro to commit to taking further action to allow public access to the museum on NAS Pensacola.
What action? The congressman doesn’t know because Secretary Del Toro gave no specifics, only that the Navy has “come up with some near-term solutions, but we’re also focused on finding the long-term solutions.”
On Friday, the Navy secretary appeared before the House Armed Services Committee. A major news byte from the hearing was Del Toro defended his recent remark that climate change is a “top priority” for the Navy.
Stripes & Stars reported that lawmakers pressed him “to make quality-of-life improvements for sailors and Marines, from mental health care to gender parity to child care.”
But apparently Gaetz did get a sound bite about reopening NAS Pensacola to the public.
Here is Secretary Del Toro’s quote as reported by Gaetz:
“Congressman, I’ve been working with you, your staff, local politicians, and the leadership of that museum actually to try to get the throughput through that museum open as quickly as possible. We’ve come up with some near-term solutions, but we’re also focused on finding the long-term solutions that actually bring it back to maximum throughput for that museum for all the reasons that you just stated because it is an extraordinary museum.”
Gaetz asked, “Where I at times struggle with folks is seeing the museum not just as a morale and welfare tool, but as a recruiting tool. Do you see it as a recruiting tool?” Gaetz asked.
“I absolutely see it as a recruiting tool,” Del Toro replied. “I saw it from the first day that I stepped in it. We have actually been very energized, and we’ve come up with some near-term solutions to increase the throughput that already paid off dividends, but we’re also looking at the long-term solutions that are a little bit more costly to be able to provide direct access to the outside world without having to have folks come in through the base itself.”