00:00The administration has largely succeeded in refocusing the Pentagon on war
00:07fighting. Our recruitment numbers have dramatically improved. That is a very
00:13important achievement and one we will continue to celebrate. The U.S. military
00:19has played a significant supporting role in the president's wholesale success and
00:24our southern border. He has achieved operational control over the situation,
00:28a position the vast majority of Americans support. In Operation Rough Rider, the
00:35president imposed costs on the Houthis. The operation was well executed by our
00:40service members and it appears to have achieved its stated objectives for now.
00:45Similarly, the president has relentless relentlessly struck al-Qaeda and ISIS
00:51terrorists. Those strikes have helped to open up space for diplomatic
00:56breakthroughs in Syria and they have prevented significant external attacks
01:02that could have emanated from Somalia. Unfortunately, the axis of aggressors is
01:09resilient. It is hell-bent on challenging American global leadership. It is clearer
01:16than ever that Vladimir Putin is uninterested in President Trump's and
01:22President Zelensky's offers for real peace negotiations. The Europeans are heeding the
01:27president's call to rearm but we are in a tenuous period. A precipitate withdrawal of
01:34U.S. forces from Europe could undo all that progress. In Asia, the Chinese Communist Party
01:41continues its campaign of aggression against its neighbors and still displays open
01:45ambitions to retake Taiwan. Secretary Hegseth recently made this crucial point in an
01:53important speech in Shangri-La. He said, and I quote, China seeks to become a
01:59hegemonic power in Asia, unquote. He is right. China intends to use military force to
02:07achieve Xi Jinping's goals. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Ayatollah is hiding as his
02:15regime crumbles. He is still refusing to negotiate. In short, this is the most
02:23dangerous national security moment since World War II. Unconstrained, aggressive
02:29dictators are on the move. And importantly, the character of warfare is rapidly
02:36changing. That is a dangerous combination. We cannot have an American-led golden age of
02:42peace and prosperity if we fail to navigate these historic security challenges. President
02:50Trump is actively working to protect American interests against four main adversaries, Xi
02:55Jinping and his Chinese Communist Party, Vladimir Putin's militarized Russia, Kim Jong-un's
03:01North Korea, and the Ayatollah's religious fanatics, including his web of terrorists. Our commander-in-chief
03:09deserves a military capable of maintaining deterrence and applying force when necessary to protect
03:16U.S. interests, as he has done in Yemen. I regret to say that this fiscal year 2026 budget request
03:27will not deliver that military. When Secretary Hexeth testified before this committee in his confirmation
03:37hearing, he made the correct point that spending less than 3 percent of GDP on defense would be,
03:44and I quote, very dangerous. Unquote. What we have in front of us is an inadequate budget request with
03:52precious little detail and no follow-on data about fiscal years 2027, 2028, or 2029. We must assume,
04:02and in fact, we have heard that OMB intends to maintain defense spending at $893 billion across the four years
04:11of this administration. So even with a one-time $150 billion reconciliation infusion, this would leave us at
04:222.65 percent of GDP by 2029, below 3 percent of GDP, and well below the 5 percent of GDP that we really, really need.
04:36Clearly, such a budget plan would allow the military balance to continue, as it has been, to tilt away
04:43from the United States and toward Communist China. Communist China has increased its budget by over
04:497 percent each year for the past decade. I know the Secretary fought for a stronger fiscal year
04:572026 discretionary request, but we need to acknowledge that a flat fiscal year 2026 budget
05:04is what OMB delivered. I expect we will spend today reviewing the numerous significant holes in this
05:11request, gaps that will make it much more difficult for President Trump to equip our service members
05:17and for his advisors to develop credible military options. Across the budget, we see significant holes.
05:26Shipbuilding, tactical fighters, basic maintenance money, and more, all insufficient. The budget seems to
05:34be written as if there are many items in the reconciliation package that simply are not in that
05:41bill. This is confusing because the text of the reconciliation bill has been public for quite some time.
05:49Chairman Rogers of the House and I worked closely with the executive branch
05:52and members of this committee on the contents of the package.
05:57This budget threatens to undermine the good work we have done together on that bill and leads me to question
06:01whether some officials in the administration plan to ignore congressional intent.
06:07I believe ignoring congressional intent would be a wrongheaded decision for the United States of America.
06:17We all work for the American people and we share largely identical goals when it comes to deterring
06:23Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and other threats. We need to work much more closely together on investment
06:31strategies and actions necessary to rebuild our industrial base. The President and the Congress want action on
06:39re-industrialization. We want to rebuild the arsenal of democracy. We need action on industrial base integration,
06:49streamline weapon sales, and cooperation with their allies and partners. We agree on fundamentally changing the way the DOD budgets and handles acquisition.
06:57Now we need to agree on providing the men and women of the Department of Defense with the resources they need to do their jobs.
07:06We have no time to waste. We must commit to continued collaboration now.
