00:00Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Smith, distinguished members of the committee.
00:05We appreciate the opportunity to testify in full support of President Trump's historic
00:10$1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of War.
00:18The President's budget request reflects the urgency of the moment,
00:22addressing both the deferment of longstanding problems,
00:26as well as positioning our forces for both the current and the future fight.
00:32We think divesting to invest is a strategy of austerity.
00:37I'm honored to appear alongside General Dan Cain, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
00:41as well as Jay Hurst, our Comptroller, our Chief Financial Officer.
00:46I'd like to start by thanking this committee and Congress for your partnership
00:50in securing the investments needed for a stronger, prouder, and more secure America.
00:56I think what our troops have demonstrated to the world over the last 15 months are a reflection of that.
01:03A nation's ability to build, innovate, and support the critical needs of its warfighters
01:08at speed and at scale is the foundation upon which its survival rests.
01:14However, upon taking office on January 20th, 2025, President Trump inherited a defense industrial base
01:23that had been hollowed out by years of America-last policies, resulting in a diminished ability to project strength.
01:32Under the previous administration, we were focused on offshoring and outsourcing,
01:37riddled with cost overruns and degraded capabilities.
01:41Under the leadership of President Trump, our builder-in-chief, we are reversing this systemic decay
01:47and putting our defense industrial base back on a wartime footing.
01:52If you ask anyone at our Pentagon, urgency informs everything we do.
01:57We're rebuilding a military that the American people can be proud of,
02:01one that instills nothing less than unrelenting fear in our adversaries
02:04and the utmost confidence in our allies.
02:08We fight to win in every scenario.
02:12The $1.5 trillion FY27 budget put forward by the President
02:17will build upon the historic $1 trillion FY26 top line
02:22and continue to reverse the four years of underinvestment
02:26and mismanagement of the Biden administration.
02:30The $1.5 trillion budget will ensure the United States continues to maintain the world's most powerful
02:35and capable military as we grapple with a complex threat environment across multiple theaters.
02:43Not to mention, this budget also includes a historic troop pay increase, 7% for lower enlisted,
02:51and the budget eliminates all poor or failing barracks.
02:55Quality of life for our troops is front and center in this budget as well.
03:01By supercharging our industrial capability and transforming how the Department does business,
03:08we're restoring American commercial dominance at a pace unseen in generations,
03:14transforming the defense industrial base from a broken, slow-moving system of the past.
03:20We have flipped the Pentagon acquisition process from a bureaucratic model to a business model.
03:28180.
03:29Decisively moving from an acquisition environment paralyzed by bureaucratic red tape
03:34into an outcomes-driven organization focused on delivering the most at-cost, at-scale for taxpayer dollars.
03:43Over the past year, through historic multi-year procurement agreements,
03:49smart business deals for things like critical munitions and capabilities,
03:53we've sent an unambiguous demand signal to industry partners to build more and build faster.
04:00The result has been a surge, a revitalization of our great American factories,
04:06and a massive reinvestment in the skilled American workers who serve as the industrial muscle behind our warriors.
04:15Let me briefly provide you with some concrete high-level metrics of what's been accomplished over just the past few
04:22months.
04:23These are announced new facilities and investments to support American warfighters,
04:29and I would refer you to the screen.
04:31The Department has helped stimulate more than 250 private investment deals in 39 states,
04:38in 180 cities, and 150 companies worth more than $50 billion.
04:43It's resulted in 280 new or expanded facilities worth than 18 million new square feet of American manufacturing,
04:52and more than 70,000 new jobs in defense.
04:57This is the key part of this.
05:00These $50 billion of investment in new plants, new assembly lines, and new factories,
05:07these are private investments, not taxpayer dollars.
05:13By changing our departments, transforming our departments' business model,
05:18American companies are investing in America with their own money, their own capital,
05:24a historic demonstration of American manufacturing and defense revitalization,
05:29all again with their capital, not Uncle Sam's.
05:34This has never been done before and is long overdue from a bureaucratic model to a business model.
05:40Anyone on the outside looking in at what's been done inside this Pentagon in the last 12 months
05:46cannot deny the fundamental transformation at speed, at scale,
05:50to innovate and meet the threats of today and tomorrow.
05:54These investments equal great things for America, American families, and American workers,
05:59and help to ensure that our warfighters are able to defend the American dream and all American made.
06:06Together with the help of the policies, updates, and appropriations passed by Congress,
06:12President Trump's War Department has begun to turn the lights back on in manufacturing towns across this country,
06:18and once again, forging a lethal arsenal of freedom.
06:22Where critical supply chains are threatened, the War Department has acted decisively to inject capital,
06:27stimulate production, and prevent adversarial exploitation.
06:31We are firing up the American economic engine, and at every level of our defense industrial base.
06:37Every policy we pursue, every budgetary item we request,
06:41serves to ensure the Department remains laser-focused
06:43on increasing lethality and survivability of our forces,
06:47from the front lines to the factory floors.
06:51This is a historic budget, as you said, Mr. Chairman.
06:55This is a fiscally responsible budget.
06:59This is a warfighting budget.
07:02And speaking of warfighting, the topic of Iran I'm sure will come up today,
07:07which I very much welcome discussing.
07:10I look forward to sharing the incredible successes of our military,
07:14achieved in a matter of weeks.
07:17President Trump, unlike other presidents,
07:19has had the courage to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,
07:24and he's ironclad in that.
07:25We have the best negotiator in the world driving that deal.
07:29The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point
07:34are the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words
07:38of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.
07:42Two months in, I remind you, two months in to a conflict.
07:47Lest I remind you, and my generation understands,
07:50how long we were in Iraq, how long we were in Afghanistan,
07:54how long we were in Vietnam.
07:55Two months in, on an existential fight
07:58for the safety of the American people,
08:01Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb.
08:03We are proud of this undertaking.
08:05I am proud that President Trump has had the courage to do it,
08:07and I look forward to sharing more
08:09about what our troops have accomplished.
08:12So I thank you again for the opportunity
08:14to address this committee.
08:15I ask that God would continue to watch over our troops
08:19in harm's way, and those that have fallen
08:21are always in our memory,
08:23and we fight to ensure their legacy.
08:25Look forward to answering the questions of this committee.
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