00:00Do you want radical Islamists to have a nuclear bomb that can stare down the world?
00:02I don't want to hear your speech because I have limited time.
00:04I don't understand.
00:05So if you can't answer my question, then I will move on to my next question.
00:10Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:11Secretary Hegseth, since you last testified before this committee,
00:15we finally received the spend plan for the $400 million FY26 appropriation for Ukraine security assistance.
00:23This funding was passed back in January,
00:26and now there are only three months left in this fiscal year.
00:30And while I appreciate that we now see what most of the funding is intended for,
00:36I just heard from the CEO of one of the manufacturers of the defense articles
00:41that are contained in the spend plan that they not only haven't received funding,
00:47but they haven't even seen a contract.
00:49So when are we going to see a contract for those defense articles
00:53that are contained in the spend plan for Iraq?
00:57I'm sorry, for Ukraine.
00:59For Ukraine.
01:00Senator, I'll have to get back to you on the specifics of the timeline of that.
01:03I'll talk to our policy shop as well as the UConn commander to determine where that's at.
01:07Well, you've told this committee that you've barely spent half of the $150 billion
01:12in reconciliation funding.
01:13And if you still have $75 billion available,
01:17why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don't support
01:22instead of asking for transfer authority for unspent reconciliation funding,
01:27especially if you can't even get $400 million in Ukraine funding out the door?
01:33As I mentioned earlier, Senator, that money from the one big, beautiful bill
01:37is otherwise allocated to the rebuilding of our military with priorities of the president
01:40like Golden Dome for America and hypersonics and other munitions investments
01:44that we made up front as we tried to adjust the Biden budget into an America First budget.
01:49And so reallocating that away from those priorities is Robin Peter to pay Paul.
01:53Those are allocated to rebuild.
01:55But my point is, if you can't spend it on a timeline, that makes sense.
02:02Why do you need to come back and ask for more money?
02:04Wouldn't it be better to spend money that you already have?
02:08And one of the things I noted was, or at least I think that this supplemental
02:12doesn't include funding to repair damage to our bases or to our military infrastructure in the region.
02:18And I have not heard that we've gotten the full extent of any of those damage estimates.
02:25So should we expect another request to address that military construction costs?
02:32And at what point do you stop asking Americans to foot the bill for a war they don't support
02:37on top of an inflated budget request and billions in reconciliation funds that you still haven't spent?
02:45Well, Senator, I obviously don't agree with your characterization of that.
02:48I appreciate that, but I want you to answer my question.
02:52I know you don't agree with my characterization.
02:54I don't agree with yours either.
02:59Well, one of the reasons I take issue with that characterization is something that Senator Durbin said
03:03when he talked about Ukraine and he talked about winning.
03:06And I appreciate as much as anybody winning a war, but I sit in front of a committee
03:10that wants to talk about winning a war that's been going on for four years
03:12and talks about strategic defeat of a conflict that's been going on for four months
03:16to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.
03:19I would hope for some perspective in this town of the historic nature of what President Trump is undertaking.
03:24Do you want radical Islamists to have a nuclear bomb that can stare down the world?
03:27I don't want to hear your speech because I have limited time.
03:29I don't understand.
03:30So if you can't answer my question, then I will move on to my next question.
03:35Secretary Rollins, the timber industry has also been hard hit, as you know,
03:40by trade wars, by drought, by wildfires, by other natural disasters that are increasingly common.
03:47In New Hampshire, which is the second most heavily forested state in the nation,
03:53one of the things that we really need, as you know, because we've had this conversation,
03:58is a research program and Forest Service staffing on the ground.
04:02In a variety of ways, but particularly at Bartlett Experimental Forest.
04:08These small investments in research and staffing and sound management
04:12help make the forest economies healthier and more competitive.
04:17I very much appreciate your having staff visit Bartlett last week with my staff
04:22and with staff from the governor's office.
04:24But can you commit to restoring staffing at Bartlett and to keeping the facilities there open
04:31now that you've seen the critical nature of that research?
04:38Why don't I follow up with you?
04:40I have not gotten a report from their visit, so I would like to do that first.
04:43But obviously, you and I have been in a continuing conversation about that.
04:47The good news, there's no doubt our timber industry is in distress and has been for a long time.
04:51The fact that we import 90 percent or something from other countries of our lumber needs is crazy.
04:58We're changing that.
04:59But the good news, we had more board feet sold last year than any time in 30 years.
05:03This year, we're going to exceed that target again.
05:06So we're making the right moves on this.
05:08But there's no doubt that research is important to that, as we've discussed.
05:11And I'll follow up with our team, and then we'll reconnect.
05:16I appreciate that.
05:17As you pointed out, research is critical to ensuring that the timber economy continues to be successful.
05:22Thank you, Madam Chair.
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