Pete Hegseth & Gen. Caine Faces Tough Questions From Rep. Smith & Others Over Iran War — AC1E

[0:00] will come to order without objection the chair reserves the right to declare the committee in [0:05] recess at any point before we begin i want to remind those in the audience that this hearing [0:11] is open to the public but actions that disrupt or distract the proceedings will not be tolerated [0:18] the chair reserves the right to remove disruptive persons from the hearing the u.s capitol police [0:24] are on hand to assist with that task and i thank them for their service one housekeeping note [0:30] before we get started uh we are expecting to be called to the house for uh floor for votes around [0:36] 10 30. we'll go as long as we can up until those votes and then i ask members to come back as as [0:41] soon as they can after voting uh upon conclusion um well i also want to ask members when you're [0:49] entering and leaving the chamber because there's hearings going on all across the capitol because [0:53] this time of day please go in and out through the side door those doors make a lot of racket when [0:59] you're coming out so uh ingress and egress through the ante room all right with that i want to welcome [1:04] our witnesses and thank them for their service to our nation uh we are meeting today to review the [1:11] pentagon's fy 27 budget request each year the budget presentation gives us the opportunity to take a hard [1:18] look at the threats we face and our ability to deter and defeat them it helps us decide on a level of [1:25] investment that will actually secure our homeland and protect our interests across the globe here are [1:32] the facts that underlie this year's budget request we are confronting an unprecedented global threat [1:39] environment with multiple adversaries working together to undermine our security and that of our [1:45] allies they are building alliances and supporting each other with drones munitions missile technology and [1:52] energy supplies and china is leading the charge against us as you can see from this graphic 25 years ago [2:01] the pla was just a defensive force with little ability to project beyond power beyond their borders [2:08] today the pla is a modernized military force capable of projecting power well into the pacific their [2:16] rapid military buildup has delivered thousands of new ships subs missiles and space assets that [2:23] severely challenge our ability to safeguard our national security interest in the no pacific china [2:30] continues to invest heavily in the pla's military modernization announcing another seven percent [2:35] increase in defense spending this year as a result they are spending more of their gdp on defense [2:42] than we are in fact as you can see from this graphic all of our adversaries are spending more of their [2:49] gdp on defense than we are meanwhile our defense spending as a percentage of gdp has been steadily [2:56] falling since world war ii that yellow line that you see on the graph cutting across that bar [3:03] represents four to five percent of gdp spending history has shown that meeting or exceeding that [3:10] level of investment ensures we can truly deter as our adversaries that's also the level of investment [3:18] we're asking our allies to make but for years we've chosen not to make that same level of investment [3:24] ourselves since world war ii defense spending has shrunk significantly as a percentage of [3:30] out federal outlays as you can see from the red line on that chart nonetheless non-defense spending on [3:36] the other hand accounts for over 85 percent and it's been increasing for that same period of time [3:42] this underinvestment in our defense has had very real consequences our defense industrial base long the [3:49] envy of the world has atrophied significantly we're no longer capable of manufacturing for our war [3:55] fighters at scale or speed just look at shipbuilding china builds 47 percent of the world's ships the u.s [4:07] builds one tenth of one percent we build fewer ships than croatia or the netherlands our global [4:16] munition stockpiles are low and we lack the capacity to rapidly restock magazine depth we have very [4:23] little industrial capacity to mine refine or process critical minerals as a result many of our defense [4:30] supply chains are reliant on the very adversaries we seek to deter beyond the impact of our to our [4:37] industrial base the inadequate investment in our defense has resulted in a vicious cycle that has [4:43] pitted sustainment against modernization for years administration after administration comes to this [4:52] committee with budgets asking us to decommission weapon systems that they admit we still need or to [4:59] cut funding for training parks and supplies or to put off needed maintenance to the facilities where our [5:05] service members live and work or to reduce the number of military personnel these budgets have asked [5:12] us to make these sacrifices and accept the near-term risk so we could afford to reinvest in military [5:19] modernization which is something we desperately need to do but we in congress consistently rejected this [5:26] mutually exclusive choice instead we divided up the limited budget we were given and made a worse choice [5:33] we underfunded both sustainment and modernization the result is we don't have enough munitions ships [5:41] aircraft or autonomous systems to ensure dominance against every adversary and the ships and aircraft we do have [5:49] suffer from unacceptably low mission capable rates fortunately that's about to change [5:56] this president has requested a historic 1.5 trillion dollar budget for our national defense [6:02] for the first time in over 40 years we've been presented a budget that accounts for the true [6:08] cost of american deterrence this budget fully funds both sustainment and modernization it provides a 24 [6:16] increase in operation and maintenance including a 20 increase in core readiness programs like flat hours [6:23] and combat exercises it includes 115 increase in funding to repair and improve facilities for our [6:32] service members and their families it increases military end strength by 44 000 and provides for a historic [6:39] pay raise for our service members it calls for an unprecedented 76 percent increase in procurement and 64 percent [6:46] increase in research and development this will enable us to truly catch up in our modernization efforts [6:54] to quick by quickly filling new munitions aircraft ships land space and autonomous systems to replenish and [7:02] expand our arsenal it directly confronts the challenges in our defense industrial base with over a hundred [7:09] billion dollars in investments to revitalize manufacturing expand domestic and allied critical minerals [7:15] projects and secure our supply chains finally this level of investment gets defense back to four and a half percent [7:25] that's where we need to be we want to truly deter conflict it also ensures that america leads by example [7:34] as our allies heed the president's call to increase their defense spending and improve their military readiness i would [7:42] also note that it's critical that we do not reduce with deterrence while we're asking our allies to ramp up their own [7:48] capacity and that's something we're going to be paying a lot of attention to in this committee [7:54] before i close my remarks i want to highlight the bravery dedication and professionalism of our war fighters [8:00] throughout this conflict with iran their tremendous work to achieve the very clear military objectives of this operation has given the [8:07] the president the opening he needs to negotiate a true and lasting peace that will ensure iran never [8:14] acquires a nuclear weapon mr secretary general kane thank you for being here i look forward to hearing [8:22] how this budget request will ensure our military can preserve american deterrence for generations to [8:27] come and with that i yield to my friend the ranking member for his opening statement well thank you mr [8:32] chairman i appreciate those opening marks i want to start by agreeing with you on the last point our troops [8:37] have performed incredibly well in the last 15 months they have been asked to do more than anyone [8:43] expected and they have demonstrated the incredible capability of the united states military i think [8:47] we should all recognize that even if we question the strategy some of the decisions behind it our troops [8:53] deserve nothing but our praise for the incredible job that they have done it has not been perfect [8:58] certainly mistakes have been made but we have demonstrated to the world that we have a highly [9:02] capable military and i hear the chairman on the you know need for an increased budget i think there's [9:09] a whole lot of needs across the united states of america that would have the same attitude about [9:13] health care about education about infrastructure but the problem is we have a 40 trillion dollar debt [9:19] and we insist on cutting taxes for absolutely everybody so we reduce the amount of revenue that is [9:24] available to that we also have to have a national security strategy that lives within a sound fiscal picture [9:31] most experts would say that the most profound threat to our national security right now is exactly [9:36] that is our fiscal picture how are we going to continue to be able to afford to fund the things we need [9:42] to fund as we run the debt ever higher the other thing worth worrying about is the pentagon has not [9:47] yet passed an audit if we give them what is roughly a 50 to 60 percent increase is that money going to be [9:55] well spent we have every reason to doubt that now i will say and i praise the chairman this committee [10:01] and in a bipartisan bicameral way we have tackled the problem of acquisition reform i think last year's [10:06] bill put us on a good trajectory to get to the point where we can in fact innovate faster at scale [10:13] i also believe the pentagon and has been working on that we've had many meetings with deputy secretary [10:18] feinberg who is focused on that but we got a long way to go can the pentagon really absorb another five [10:26] six hundred billion dollars depending on what the supplemental and the reconciliation package are [10:31] i don't think so we need to pay as much attention to how we're spending the money as to how much [10:36] we're spending and we never seem to do that but the larger problem is the strategy that has been put [10:41] before us i looked through the secretary's remarks and i've heard you give speeches before about this [10:46] about how realism is our strategy and i find that absurd um and given what we are doing you can say a lot [10:55] of things about the strategy but calling it realistic we started a full-scale war in the [11:01] middle east against iran to try to reshape the middle east now we can talk about that in a bunch [11:06] of different ways but it is the exact opposite of realism and in fact starting wars in the middle east [11:12] that get out of control and lead us to have far greater costs for the benefits is one of the [11:18] cornerstones of the unrealistic strategy that this administration has criticized over and over and [11:23] over again and yet here we are in a full-scale mid-east war and we've seen the costs of that [11:29] certainly at the top of that list is 13 service members killed and hundreds wounded but it goes way [11:35] beyond that that thousands of civilians have been killed over a dozen countries now have been dragged [11:40] into this war in one way or another the israel lebanee lebanon war has exploded since this war started we [11:47] now have a conflict between the shield militias in iraq and kurdistan that is straining um to put it [11:53] mildly our relationship with iraq and also causing greater chaos throughout the middle east we see the [11:59] impact on the economy certainly here at home gas prices up by over a dollar the impact of the [12:04] fertilizer increase is going to come later as food prices skyrocket but what is happening to us is a [12:11] small part of what's happening to the rest of the world certainly the middle east's economy has been [12:15] tossed up in the air but dozens of countries are rationing gasoline as we speak and experiencing [12:22] extreme economic pain because of this war so there's nothing realistic about that and one of the big [12:29] questions that we need to get answered today is where is this going what is the plan to achieve our [12:35] objectives we've seen the cost and the cost is very very high all we keep hearing on the objectives [12:41] is we keep seeing all of the targets that we have struck and again that is an incredible accomplishment [12:48] from a tactical standpoint i think the proficiency of our military has been on display but we're not [12:53] in this for a tactical advantage we're in this to fundamentally change iran and as we sit here today [12:59] iran's nuclear program is exactly what it was before this war started they have not lost their capacity [13:05] to inflict pain they still have a ballistic missile program they're still still able to blockade the [13:10] strait of hormuz and have the ships that are capable of doing that what is the plan to get that to [13:15] change and most disturbingly the president keeps telling us that it's over what was it a week ago [13:22] friday the president announced that iran had agreed to give up their nuclear program to give up their [13:27] ballistic missile program to stop support for terrorist groups to reopen the strait of hormuz [13:32] the only problem with that is literally none of that was true it was he was completely making it up it [13:37] wasn't iran hadn't even agreed to meet with us as became embarrassingly clear as the day spun out and [13:45] poor jd vance had to keep going back and forth to the airport we never even had a meeting so wish [13:51] fulfillment is not really a strategy i mean maybe the president thinks he's doing some sort of jedi [13:56] mind trick and can tell iran you will give up your nuclear weapons and they automatically will [14:01] but that's not working so what we need to hear today is what is going to work we have 50 000 troops in [14:08] the region who are still at risk how are those tactical victories going to translate into some sort [14:13] of strategic success and by the way this is one of the things that realism recognizes you can win a [14:20] whole lot of little small battles and lose the war which is why you don't stumble into the war in the [14:26] first place but at the same time we're doing all of this on our own as we increasingly push away all [14:34] of our allies sometimes just because we want to do what we want to do we don't want to have to consult [14:39] them sometimes just gratuitously insulting them i mean in the middle of this war where we were asking [14:44] nato to come join us the president took time out to insult president macron and his wife okay how is that [14:52] helping us to try and belittle everybody in the world and i also for the people who are criticizing [14:58] nato over this war i will remind people that nato is a defensive alliance what that means is every [15:04] country ended pledges to defend a country if attacked and when we were attacked on 9 11 that's [15:10] what nato did they put in article 5 and for 20 years they fought beside us nato is not if any one of the [15:16] countries decides to unilaterally and unwisely start a war precipitously that everyone else is supposed [15:25] to join that's not the way it works so berating and belittling our allies after we did that and driving [15:31] them ever further away from us how is that realistic not only are we going to try to reshape the middle [15:37] east but we're going to do it alone while we're pushing everybody away from us and then we have other [15:43] tools in our arsenal you see that those numbers on the budget but the state department's really [15:48] important development is really important these are ways to achieve our ends and we've moved away [15:52] from that we got rid of the entire usaid literally causing the starvation of children in countries where [15:59] we had pledged to provide food you know causing massive health care disruptions people literally [16:04] dying because we cut that off in diplomacy we have sidelined again the entire world france and the uk [16:12] have brought together 44 different countries that have an interest in trying to open up the strait [16:16] of hormuz we've pushed them all aside and then we've even pushed aside our own diplomatic corps [16:22] we have a very very talented state department i praise today the talent of our military and i [16:27] will stand by that they deserve that praise our diplomatic corps deserves that praise too [16:32] but we've shoved them all to the side in favor of two real estate guys who are going to go negotiate [16:37] all the deals in the world which to date by the way has yield exactly nothing so something realistic [16:45] about starting a war in the middle east going it alone and pushing aside all diplomacy and all development [16:50] all other tools in our arsenal and on top of that of course we also want to dominate the entire western [16:56] hemisphere um you know including apparently annexing canada and invading greenland how is any of that [17:04] realistic and then and then the administration comes before us and asks for what is a hopelessly [17:09] unrealistic budget in this environment back on that chart there when we were showing how much money [17:15] we were spending on defense we had a balanced budget we had a surplus many years we don't have that [17:21] anymore so call this strategy whatever you want to call it but please don't call it realism it's not [17:29] forgive me it reminds me of one of my favorite lines from a princess bride [17:33] it's a tense warning i want to lighten it up a little bit um but the guy keeps saying inconceivable [17:39] when things happen and finally the guy says to him you keep using that word i don't think you know [17:44] what it means i don't think we know what the word realism means so please can we not have the realism [17:51] conversation let's have the conversation about what the strategy actually is and i'm sure you have [17:55] a different definition of it than i do but as i look at it the strategy seems to be to use as much [18:02] violence as much threats as much coercion as possible to bend the world to our will i think [18:10] that is a very dangerous strategy because one of the oldest cliches in the military is the enemy gets [18:16] a vote and we may think that we can stand up and talk tough and talk about how strong we are and how [18:21] we're burying our enemies and they're begging for a deal we can do that all day long all right but the [18:27] enemy gets a vote they don't have to do what we tell them to do and meanwhile that coercive violent [18:34] strategy undermines our credibility in the world because the chairman is absolutely right and this [18:39] is one area where i strongly disagree with the folks on the far left who say that we don't really face [18:44] any threats that the us is a malign influence in the world and always has been i don't agree with that [18:49] china russia iran north korea hezbollah hamas the houthis variety of other transnational terrorist [18:55] groups including yes narco terrorists and human traffickers over here they all are trying to [19:01] weaken us all right they don't want a rules-based order they want to play by their own rules they [19:06] want to push us aside we want to be the side that stands up for the rules but if what we're saying to [19:10] the rest of the world is stick with us because we're a better bully than china we coerce countries [19:18] more effectively that undercuts the very message we're trying to spread to build the coalition we need [19:23] to be successful i also worry about the values that we're showing the world when the president [19:30] threatens to kill off an entire civilization that that is the message coming out of the united states [19:37] of america if we are going to be this big powerful force that throws our weight around the world the [19:43] world wants to know at a minimum that we're doing it for the right reasons and with a sense of values to [19:49] protect people not to destroy entire civilizations and we all hear that and we all go well gosh [19:56] you know he probably doesn't mean it well that is so reassuring okay that he's just making it up [20:02] we're supposed to be the united states of america i grew up on stories of the u.s at the end of world [20:08] war ii being the country that the germans wanted to surrender to not the russians because they knew they [20:14] could trust our values we don't seem to care about those values no rules of engagement give them no [20:21] quarter all right that is not who we are supposed to be and just one final point on that the girl [20:29] school that got hit in the first days of this war there is absolutely no question at this point what [20:36] happened we made a mistake and that happens in war we identified this target based on earlier charts and [20:43] yet two months after it happened we refused to say anything about it giving the world the impression [20:49] that we just don't care we do not care about the casualties and the chaos that is caused by our war [20:56] and we should care even if we want to prosecute that war now i agree with the chairman we need a [21:03] strategy we face the most complex threat environment that we face in a very very long time so we really [21:09] want to hear from the administration don't give us this realism chest-thumping stuff what do [21:13] we really going to do to meet those threats to deal with the challenges we face and i'll close [21:19] just by saying one of the other ironies of this of course is we have a great example in the world [21:24] right now of what our strategy should be and where our values should be and that's ukraine and i'm really [21:32] curious you know here we are we roll out the red carpet for vladimir putin we belittle and insult [21:37] president zielinski in the white house he has no cards right well here we are a year after that looks [21:44] like he had a couple cards to play because ukraine is actually winning against russia ukraine a sovereign [21:50] democracy standing up against a brutal oppressive coercive dictatorship and we can't even bring [21:58] ourselves on a consistent basis to say we are with ukraine and we are against what putin is doing and [22:04] stand up and support them so i want to see that strategy to meet the complex threat environment that we [22:10] have but simply saying we've already won and boasting and bragging and trying to belittle and [22:16] insult the entire world that's not going to get us to the posture that we need so i hope we have a [22:23] conversation about how we can build a strategy that makes sense and is actually realistic without a yield [22:30] back i think the ranking member for his opening statement uh now i'd like to introduce our witnesses [22:35] and we have the honorable pete higset secretary of war general dan kane chairman of the joint chiefs of [22:41] staff and they are being accompanied by mr jay hurst acting chief financial officer and comptroller for [22:47] the department i also want to welcome the secretary's wife jennifer welcome to our hearing glad to have [22:52] you here with us today and with that mr secretary we'll start with you you're recognized well thank you [22:59] mr chairman uh ranking member smith distinguished members of the committee we appreciate the opportunity [23:05] to testify in full support of president trump's historic 1.5 trillion dollar fiscal year 2027 [23:14] budget request for the department of war the president's budget request reflects the urgency [23:20] of the moment addressing both the deferment of long-standing problems as well as positioning our forces [23:28] for both the current and the future fight we think divesting to invest is a strategy of austerity [23:36] i'm honored to appear alongside general dan kane chairman of the joint chiefs of staff as well as [23:41] jay hurst our comptroller our chief financial officer i'd like to start by thanking this committee [23:48] and congress for your partnership in securing the investments needed for a stronger prouder and more [23:54] secure america i think what our troops have demonstrated to the world over the last 15 months [23:59] are a reflection of that a nation's ability to build innovate and support the critical needs of its [24:07] war fighters at speed and at scale is the foundation upon which its survival rests however upon taking [24:16] office on january 20th 2025 president trump inherited a defense industrial base that had been hollowed out [24:23] by years of america last policies resulting in a diminished ability to project strength under the [24:31] previous administration we were focused on offshoring and outsourcing riddled with cost overruns and [24:38] degraded capabilities under the leadership of president trump our builder in chief we are reversing [24:45] this systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a wartime footing if you [24:52] ask anyone at our pentagon urgency informs everything we do we're rebuilding a military that the american [24:59] people can be proud of one that instills nothing less than unrelenting fear in our adversaries and the [25:04] utmost confidence in our allies we fight to win in every scenario the 1.5 trillion dollar fy27 budget [25:14] put forward by the president will build upon the historic 1 trillion dollar fy26 top line and continue [25:23] to reverse the four years of underinvestment and mismanagement of the biden administration the 1.5 [25:30] trillion dollar budget will ensure the united states continues to maintain the world's most powerful [25:35] and capable military as we grapple with a complex threat environment across multiple theaters not to [25:43] mention this budget also includes a historic troop pay increase seven percent for lower enlisted and the [25:51] budget eliminates all poor or failing barracks quality of life for our troops is front and center in this [25:58] budget as well by supercharging our industrial capability and transforming how the department does business [26:07] we're restoring american commercial dominance at a pace unseen in generations transforming the defense [26:15] industrial base from a broken slow-moving system of the past we have flipped the pentagon acquisition [26:22] process from a bureaucratic model to a business model 180 decisively moving from an acquisition environment [26:31] paralyzed by bureaucratic red tape into an outcomes driven organization focused on delivering the most at [26:39] cost cost at scale for taxpayer dollars over the past year through historic multi-year [26:46] procurement agreements smart business deals for things like critical munitions and capabilities we've sent an [26:54] unambiguous demand signal to industry partners to build more and build faster the result has been a surge a [27:02] revitalization of our great factories and a massive reinvestment in the skilled american workers who serve as the [27:10] industrial muscle behind our warriors let me briefly preside provide you with some concrete [27:18] high-level metrics of what's been accomplished over just the past few months these are announced new facilities and [27:25] investments to support american war fighters and i would refer you to the screen the department has helped stimulate more than 250 [27:33] private investment deals in 39 states in 180 cities and 150 companies worth more than 50 billion dollars it's [27:43] resulted in 280 new or expanded facilities more than 18 million new square feet of american manufacturing and [27:52] more than 70 000 new jobs in defense these this is the key part of this these 50 billion dollars of investment in new [28:02] new plants new assembly lines and new factories these are private investments not taxpayer dollars by changing [28:13] our departments transforming our department's business model american companies are investing in america [28:20] with their own money their own capital a historic demonstration of american manufacturing and defense [28:27] revitalization all again with their capital not uncle sam's this has never been done before [28:35] and is long overdue from a bureaucratic model to a business model anyone on the outside looking [28:41] in at what's been done inside this pentagon in the last 12 months cannot deny the fundamental [28:47] transformation at speed at scale to innovate and meet the threats of today and tomorrow these investments [28:55] equal great things for america american families and american workers and help to ensure that our war [29:01] fighters are able to defend the american dream and all american made together with the help of the [29:07] policies updates and appropriations passed by congress president trump's war department has begun to turn [29:13] the lights back on in manufacturing towns across this country and once again forging a lethal arsenal of [29:20] freedom where critical supply chains are threatened the war department has acted decisively to inject [29:26] capital stimulate production and prevent adversarial exploitation we are firing up the american economic [29:32] engine and at every level of our defense industrial base every policy we pursue every budgetary item we [29:39] request serves to ensure the department remains laser focused on increasing lethality and survivability [29:45] of our forces from the front lines to the factory floors this is a historic budget as you said mr [29:54] chairman this is a fiscally responsible budget this is a war fighting budget and speaking of war fighting a [30:02] topic the topic the topic of iran i'm sure will come up today which i very much welcome discussing i look [30:09] forward to sharing the incredible successes of our military achieved in a matter of weeks president [30:17] trump unlike other president has had the courage to ensure iran never gets a nuclear weapon and he's [30:23] ironclad in that we have the best negotiator in the world driving that deal the biggest challenge the [30:30] biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless feckless and defeatist words of congressional [30:39] democrats and some republicans two months in i remind you two months in to a conflict lest i remind you [30:47] and my generation understands how long we were in iraq how long we were in afghanistan how long we were [30:54] in vietnam two months in on an existential fight for the safety of the american people iran cannot have a [31:01] nuclear bomb we are proud of this undertaking i am proud that president trump has had the courage to [31:06] do it and i look forward to sharing more about what our troops have accomplished so i thank you [31:12] again for the opportunity to address this committee i ask that may god that god would continue to watch [31:17] over our troops in harm's way and those that have fallen are always in our memory and we fight to [31:23] ensure their legacy look forward to answering the questions of this committee thank you mr secretary [31:28] general kane you're recognized you're recognized thank you chairman rogers ranking member smith and [31:33] members of this committee thanks for having me today i'm honored to be here today alongside the [31:38] honorable pete hegseth and honorable jay hearst to testify in the president's fiscal year 2027 budget [31:45] i'm grateful for the opportunity to testify today and i'm thankful for your continued partnership [31:51] in support of our war fighters defending the homeland and our interests around the world [31:56] it's a privilege to speak with you today about the foundation of america's strength our 2.8 million [32:01] members of our joint force and i'm continually inspired by our soldiers sailors airmen marines [32:09] guardians and coast guard guardsmen and our civilians standing the watch for our nation [32:15] supported always by their families each and every one of them could have chosen another path but they [32:21] don't they choose to serve and to do something more important than themselves and every day they meet [32:27] the nation's challenges from combat operations to critical support roles with the courage tenacity and [32:34] grit that keeps our nation strong and secure i would also like to express my deep gratitude for the 39 [32:43] members of our joint force who've passed away during my time as the chairman including 14 who've passed [32:49] during operation epic fury as the secretary said we are deeply grateful for each of them and their [32:55] families and their names will never be forgotten as the chairman my duty is to ensure our civilian [33:02] leadership has a comprehensive range of military options and the associated risks that to those leaders [33:10] who make the nation's hardest decisions and offer my military advice privately i owe the president [33:17] the secretary the secretary and the congress the truth at every turn my blueprint for this role is [33:23] general george c marshall his commitment to civilian control the military and non-partisan military [33:30] remains a constant standard and something i borrow from often i strive daily to emulate his candor [33:38] delivering the facts to our leaders and telling them always what they need to hear not always what they [33:44] want to hear and once a decision is made executing it with absolute dedication and that is the [33:50] demand of our profession i sit here today before you representing our incredible joint force and i want [33:57] to emphasize my commitment to this committee in the congress that i will always follow general marshall's [34:02] steadfast example as by providing clear and candid non-partisan military advice and working together with our [34:10] our civilian leaders to ensure that our military does the things that we must do being prepared [34:17] to deter and defend our nation and if called upon win our wars around the world america's joint [34:24] force is operational at its core purpose built for the realities of a complex and ever-changing world [34:31] we are organized trained and equipped execute the most demanding missions across the globe with unrivaled [34:39] precision over the past year our war fighters have consistently demonstrated exactly what it means to be the [34:46] most capable adaptable and most professional military force in the world our shared goals are to ensure [34:55] the joint force remains the strategic maintains the strategic initiative and advantage projecting american [35:03] power and responding to global challenges on our nation's terms during operations rough rider [35:09] midnight hammer southern spear absolute resolve and epic fury the joint force executed globally [35:17] integrated operations and missions alongside our interagency and international partners and once our [35:24] civilian leaders made a decision we make those missions our own demonstrating the unmatched capability [35:31] to seamlessly synchronize our capabilities across all domains from the seabed to cislunar space [35:39] and higher we're able to accomplish these complicated missions and work because we draw from a deep [35:47] enduring reservoir of training professionalism and commitment our operational tempo is high but we're designed [35:56] to sustain and rebuild our strength continuously we build readiness every day we train professionals every [36:03] day we learn and sharpen our edges every day by being learning leaders and i am incredibly proud to be a member of [36:11] this joint force team proud of the team and proud of the commanders as the chairman and the ranking member both said [36:19] we live in complex and dynamic times where global risk is scaling the complexity of today's modern battlefields [36:28] demands our constant adaptation innovation and partnership with this congress as a joint force we're up to the [36:36] challenge we're built for this environment however continued success is not guaranteed by past achievements it must be [36:45] secured through forward-looking partnerships with congress and to drive this pace and change and maintain our [36:52] superiority we need timely predictable and sustained investment the resources we discuss today are critical [37:01] to modernizing our force and ensuring that whatever threats emerge in the future that your joint force [37:08] is ready to meet those challenges to protect our interests and defend our nation as the secretary [37:15] said the president's fiscal year 2027 budget supports the department's goals of recharging the defense [37:22] industrial base and the national industrial base ensuring our military is ready securing our military [37:28] advantage within the joint force the uniform side our priorities remain the same ensuring our warfighters [37:36] are properly armed globally integrated and ready while always taking care of our people and what truly sets [37:43] our people apart from other militaries around the world is the 1.8 million members enlisted members of [37:50] our force who maintain readiness beyond reproach and are the envy of every other nation i'm joined today by [37:59] the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman dave isom who's here with me today representing the 1.8 million [38:07] members of the enlisted force he is a great american not an americant while we face dynamic and a dangerous [38:15] world i have the absolute trust in the extraordinary men and women who come and volunteer to serve our nation [38:24] within our joint force they execute the missions quietly every day and coupled with the american spirit out [38:32] think out compete and relentlessly innovate we will maintain our decisive edge but doing so requires [38:40] your partnership we stand ready today to answer our nation's call it remains the honor of a lifetime [38:47] for me to serve alongside the members of this joint force and as we sit here today in this important [38:53] hearing i ask us all to remember our deployed teammates who are out there right now doing our nation's [38:59] business and way may we again always remember our fallen who've given us the gift of an incredible [39:05] example and their family members who continue to show us what courage and grit look like thank you [39:12] again for your enduring support and i look forward to your questions thank you general i recognize myself [39:17] now for questions uh secretary higgseth thank you for undertaking the arsenal of freedom tour and the great [39:23] work the department's doing to help enhance our capacity in our defense industrial base could you [39:29] tell us how last year's reconciliation bill helped enable um what you have been able to do and what [39:37] you think this year's fyi 27 budget request will do on on that front well mr chairman thank you for your [39:44] leadership and your support on that topic i mean coming into this position we fell in on a lot of the [39:49] reforms you and this committee have been advocating for for a long time looking for somebody that was [39:53] willing to run with them and our department i have have run with those and that reconciliation bill [39:58] last year was kind of the rocket fuel to initiate uh president trump's priorities in this department [40:04] so we fell in on a department that was focused on a lot of the wrong things going in the wrong direction [40:09] uh and with reconciliation we're able to put you know 22 billion in ship building 22 billion into [40:15] golden dome 25 billion into munitions established drone dominance which we're continuing to do this day [40:21] in this next budget funds so getting in front of that budget cycle which had been notoriously [40:27] unpredictable uh out of coming out of the continued revolution resolution of fy25 to fund this and [40:33] then a bill a historic bill in fy26 laid the groundwork for this historic budget to ensure that [40:39] we're not coming at a cold start here we came into this administration reconciliation was a beautiful tool [40:46] we were able to use that through that one big beautiful bill to fund the priorities of this department [40:50] we spent on four billion on barracks started immediately getting after the quality of life of barracks [40:55] uh because of the austerity of divide administration we traded off of maintenance traded off of quality [41:01] of life to try to fund other things operationally uh this budget stops that cycle and both invests in [41:07] sustainment and modernization uh which is which is something that's critically important so without [41:12] that reconciliation bill i think mr chairman we'd be in a very different place so thank you for that great [41:16] well as you are aware the expansion of the defense industrial base is the principal focus of this year's [41:22] ndaa so in addition to enacting this budget uh request that's been submitted we want to work with you [41:30] to enhance the department's statutory authorities to improve the capacity of our dib what additional [41:36] changes in law such as the additional multi-year block by authority would you recommend that we pursue [41:43] in this year's ndaa a few aspects of the acquisition transition uh transformation has been undertaken by [41:50] undersecretary duffy in acquisitions and sustainment so there's some aspects of that we'd like to [41:54] codify even more but you mentioned it multi-year procurement is incredibly important and one of [42:00] the most important parts of this bill when this committee and this congress funds those things [42:05] companies are already breaking ground on tens of billions of dollars of new plants [42:10] you you name the we've got 14 in our uh ammunition council are that we're focusing on certain [42:16] ammunition there are 14 that are critical you know pack threes sm threes sm sixes thads patriots tomahawks [42:24] amrams jasms unit prisms you name them we were building of it too slow and too low a level now the [42:32] companies are going to pay for those factories and those production lines and when you're when congress [42:36] gives those five to seven year demand signals they'll then fund not just hey can we get 10 more per month [42:44] but can we 2x 3x 4x of production uh pay for it now and the companies invest uh accordingly so it's [42:52] been a a critical aspect of some of what we've done so far but we need more of those five to seven year [42:57] uh investments great general kane what does the 1.5 trillion dollar budget mean for the war fighter [43:03] and our ability to project forces and secure our interest around the globe chairman uh you know in my [43:11] in my view this this represents a historic down payment on future security um if if the budget is [43:19] approved and ultimately deployed as we look at the character of warfare changing very very fast what's [43:26] layered in to this budget by our civilian leaders will allow us to start getting ahead of where uh [43:34] technology is evolving and and as i mentioned the character of war fighting is is changing pretty [43:40] quickly mass simultaneity autonomy undersea space cyber information all of those those ways that [43:49] are now manifesting themselves on the battlefields around the world um require a higher end of capital [43:58] investment and that's why we're grateful for the opportunity to have this budget make its way to [44:03] the joint force so it's an important uh down payment on the future here sir great thank you thank [44:09] you sir uh with that i yield to the ranking member for any questions he may have uh thank you uh mr [44:13] hearst drag you into the conversation here we have not yet received from the pentagon the costs of the [44:19] war um so just for the record we'd like to get that as soon as possible certainly the munitions expended [44:26] but also underreported is we've had a fair amount of equipment uh destroyed including two c-130s with [44:32] the rescuer of our downed airmen um so do you have either a a cost estimate coming to us anytime soon [44:38] or b a specific supplemental request thank you for that question um so approximately this day we're [44:46] spending about 25 billion dollars on operation epic fury most of that is munitions there's part of that [44:52] it's obviously o and m and equipment replacement we will formulate a supplemental uh through the white [44:57] house that will come to congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict [45:01] so you're saying the full cost at this point is 25 billion yeah that's our estimate for the cost okay [45:06] interesting because we i'm glad you answered that question because we've been asking for [45:10] a hell of a long time and no one's given us the number um so if you could get those details over [45:14] to us that that would be great um mr secretary you mentioned the the nuclear aspect of iran and the war [45:20] and it is worth noting that every president prior to this one including president trump in his first [45:25] term also prevented iran from getting a nuclear weapon without actually having to go to war in iran so [45:31] we need to keep that in mind but also since the war started iran's nuclear arsenal has not been weakened [45:38] in any way and at the moment in negotiations what iran is saying basically pay us to open up the straight [45:45] that that's their position which is completely untenable i agree um it's worth noting of course [45:50] that the straight was open before the war started now we're negotiating to get back to status quo [45:55] and iran's most recent offer is to say we'll talk about nukes later so what is the plan to actually [46:00] turn all of this lethal kinetic action into an improvement in the nuclear situation because we [46:07] haven't gotten there yet play it out for us how does that happen how does it actually lead to that [46:13] result well i would take issue with the premise of the question that nothing was done operation [46:17] midnight hammer was a a very effective well i didn't say nothing was done i said in this war [46:22] ultimately well this is this under this administration unlike other administrations which [46:27] cut bad deals and pallets of cash with no ability to oversee whether iran is actually pursuing [46:32] a nuclear program which is where we're at litigate jcpoa or the iran deal our view the president's [46:37] views that was a very bad deal okay it gave them a bunch of money up front the future fund you talked [46:42] about negotiated deals funded allowed them to fund their proxies and spread hamas and hezbollah all [46:47] around the region build up nuclear capabilities what are we going to do president trump has been [46:51] clear-eyed from the killing of qasem soleimani to the pulling out of the iran deal to midnight [46:57] hammer and now to this effort to recognize that you have to stare down this kind of enemy who's [47:02] hell-bent on getting a nuclear weapon and get them to a point where they're at the table giving it [47:07] up uh in a way that so they haven't ever have it so they haven't broken yet okay we haven't gotten [47:12] there yet for all of the well their nuclear facilities have been obliterated underground they're [47:17] buried and watching them 24 7. so we know where any nuclear material be claiming my time we're [47:23] watching a second here we had to start this war you just said 60 days ago because the nuclear weapon [47:32] was an imminent threat now you're saying that it was completely obliterated they had not given up their [47:37] nuclear ambitions and they had a conventional shield of thousands of operation midnight [47:42] hammer accomplished nothing of substance it left us at exactly the same place we were before [47:48] so much so their facilities are bombed and obliterated their their ambitions continued and [47:54] they're building a conventional shield let me try again it's the north korea strategy you know this [47:59] very well the north korea strategy was use conventional missiles to prevent anybody from [48:03] challenging them so they could slow walk their way to a weapon president trump saw iran at its weakest [48:08] moment took an action to ensure in a way that only the united states of america could do with our [48:13] israeli partners and yet to ensure their eventual shield was was brought one other question if i could [48:19] get to it so on ukraine a year plus ago your advice the president's advice was ukraine had no cards to [48:27] play they should go cut the best possible deal they could clearly that was wrong what did you miss [48:34] what did you miss about the conflict between russia and ukraine that you didn't see that [48:38] ukraine was going to be capable of doing what they've done in the last 14 months what we didn't [48:42] miss and we're here in this committee is that joe biden with no accountability gave hundreds of [48:47] billions of dollars of our weapons to ukraine uh to an outcome that never would have happened if [48:51] president trump was the president so he pulled out our you guys don't talk about that ultimately [48:56] president trump believes there should be a peace deal uh between russia and ukraine but you didn't [49:01] expect ukraine to be where they're at right now i'm asking you just from a strategic standpoint i think [49:05] the ukrainians have shown great courage and i appreciate that europe is now paying for the [49:10] weapons that we provide all right i yield back thank you all right now i want to remind everybody [49:16] there's everybody wants to get their questions so we are going to be strict sticking strictly to [49:20] the five minute rule today so with that i recognize the gentleman from south carolina mr wilson [49:25] thank you chairman mike rogers for your leadership working with president donald trump [49:30] as the grateful father of four sons who served overseas in iraq egypt and afghanistan i especially [49:36] appreciate war secretary hexath and chief of staff kane for your competence service and success [49:42] military families have never been more appreciated than today and our enemies of dictators now understand [49:49] peace through strength dictators historically are on the run with your leadership president trump has [49:54] given syria a chance with president al-shara replacing dictator aside from damascus who now lives in moscow [50:02] dictator maduro is correctly in a manhattan jail as you successfully revealed in caracas that the war [50:09] criminal putin air defenses do not work the chinese communist party radar failed and cuban mercenaries [50:15] were expendable the cuban dictatorship is failing and the ultimate mass murderer dictator komeini is dead [50:23] in tehran iran joining the 35 000 people he murdered this year with your leadership american morale has [50:31] never been higher in hopes for freedom of the oppressed people of iran cuba russia and china have never been [50:38] higher and it's just an exciting time to be here with you and mr secretary we continue to see the [50:44] growing nuclear threat of our adversaries as they expand their capabilities with the largest military [50:50] buildup in peacetime in world history by the chinese communist party how critical is it that we continue [50:58] as at the savannah river site in south carolina to develop the plutonium pit processing so that we have [51:05] modernization well congressman i appreciate that question on on nuclear modernization this budget funds [51:13] 71 billion dollars to modernize modernize the triad in ways that we had neglected to do and our nuclear triad [51:20] underwrites everything but i i really appreciate your opening statement i think something that obviously [51:27] uh the media want doesn't want to cover and doesn't want to talk about is the historic record-breaking surge in [51:33] recruiting in our ranks 30-year record in recruiting of americans wanting to join our joint force wanting [51:40] to put the uniform on uh we're meeting recruiting goals halfway through the year we couldn't meet our [51:46] recruiting goals under the previous administration under joe biden americans didn't want to join the military we [51:52] couldn't get it now we have to turn people away and push them to the next fiscal year that's why this budget grows our [51:57] force by almost 50 000 ultimately additional troops into the force that we believe we can recruit [52:04] that's the best vote of confidence i can imagine well even better hey mr secretary you're really [52:10] understating uh leaving no leaving no airmen behind hey what an inspiration on easter day uh god bless [52:18] y'all and what you've achieved with that in mind too general kane with your vmi military perspective war [52:23] colonel putin is losing in ukraine as his 30-day special admission is now four years of as the [52:30] secretary has identified courageous ukrainian success led by president vladimir zelinski i appreciate that [52:38] nato and the eu have unified for ukraine as the u.s ranked 17th per gdp in assistance for ukraine [52:47] ukraine is frontline stopping war colonel putin from resurrecting the failed soviet union rigging [52:53] elections in belarus invading ukraine keeping troops in moldova and within vashvili invading and rigging [53:00] elections in the republic of georgia as we're transitioning greater responsibility to our [53:04] nato allies how do we ensure seamless integration to deterrence during this shift congressman um we're [53:14] we're very fortunate to have great leaders out in the european theater right now general grinkovich and [53:20] his leadership team are committed to ensuring that that integration and transition takes place in a [53:27] most combat capable and effective way uh very entrepreneurial leaders out there across the [53:33] components and with general grinkovich and and uh and he's doing a great job out there as the committee [53:39] knows and indeed as we conclude historically president trump miss secretary uh general you have united the [53:47] middle east nations unprecedented to ally with the united states you have united latin america [53:53] unprecedented to ally with united states you've united the indo-pacific unprecedented to ally with [54:00] united states and united nato and eu unprecedented to ally with the united states you're achieving peace [54:08] and deterrence through strength i yield back gentleman yields back here and i recognize the gentleman from [54:12] connecticut mr courtney thank you mr chairman mr secretary and general kane this morning's wall street [54:18] journal's lead headline reads quote trump tells aides to prepare for an extended blockade [54:24] of iran it goes on to describe again the thinking behind the strategy but also talks about how [54:30] prolonging the blockade is going to continue to drive up energy costs all over the world given the [54:35] ever-changing messages from this administration on the war strategy and timeline i really honestly don't [54:40] expect you to confirm or deny the journal story but one thing is clear the number of transits across [54:45] the strait of hormuz has dropped to the lowest level since the war began and commodity markets have [54:50] stopped listening to the happy talk and crude oil prices this morning have risen to the highest level [54:56] since the war in ukraine started in 2022 triple a reported this morning that the average price of gas is [55:02] four dollars and 30 cents a gallon up 30 cents in one week diesel's average is 545 my friend mr garamendi says [55:09] in california it's closer to 8 a gallon and fertilizer prices have also hammered farmers at exactly the [55:18] same time they're beginning planting all across the country aside from the damage this war has done to [55:23] american consumers farmers and small businesses i want to focus for a minute on the cost of the war and [55:29] our military readiness particularly to other combatant commands mr secretary you put out a national [55:35] defense strategy in january uh which listed the threat assessment uh facing our country china was [55:41] number one with the second largest most powerful military in the in the world of course russia's [55:47] nuclear force clearly it was number two in terms of the threat they posed to the homeland north korea [55:53] which has missiles that actually can reach u.s territory was ranked number three and iran was [56:00] described as quote uh and accurately after midnight hammer that iran's regime is weaker and more [56:06] vulnerable than it has been in decades again this was before february 28th when the decision was made [56:12] to to go in uh the military strikes uh on iran so today we have three carrier strike forces in central [56:20] command the indo indo paycon which is where russia and china are are operating their navies 52 of the [56:30] globe we have one carrier strike group in japan george washington and the the imbalance in terms of [56:37] just you know what our commitments and frankly you know what our national defense strategy i mean is [56:43] just blindingly obvious in terms of what this war is doing gerald ford is on day 312 of its uh deployment [56:51] they've gone through fires plumbing problems uh and again an extended uh deployment which in my opinion [56:59] is hitting readiness as hard as anything i've seen in the in the time that i've been on this uh [57:05] committee so uh general kane i mean in terms of again the the carrier strike groups that are over [57:12] there i mean assuming that we get to some end game here um ford is not going over to the indo-pacific to [57:19] buttress the the gap that exists there today they've got to go back into pretty heavy repair and [57:25] availability to in terms of trying to recover from their deployment so again in terms of just [57:32] you know the decisions about where we're putting people and and putting really the most powerful [57:37] part of our our navy you know can you explain uh again what what that means in terms of the the [57:44] situation in indo paycom where china is watching we saw mr rogers pretty powerful presentation in terms of [57:52] the um the buildup that's happening in that part of the world how does that align with the national [57:57] defense strategy which was just put out by this administration in january well sir um first i want [58:03] to echo uh your comments on the ford strike group fantastic work by incredible sailors uh not just the ford [58:13] herself but the other ships as well on a historic cruise doing uh incredible work for for the nation [58:21] excuse me how does that balance with the national yes sir happy to answer the the way i think about [58:27] this the national security strategy and national defense strategy are frameworks but a president [58:34] will employ uh national force and power based on the political and and security situations that a [58:42] president uh deems appropriate to use that military force there's always trade-offs in all of these things [58:49] uh i am i am uh confident that the president always carefully considers these readiness trade-offs [58:57] um and uh and i'm sure he has done so in this case based on uh based on the military options that we've [59:04] presented with the associated risks and make a trade going after a regime that's weaker and more [59:09] vulnerable than it has been in decades which is quote unquote from from the defense strategies report [59:15] uh just not in in my opinion in common sense gentlemen's times expired as you can tell from [59:20] looking at the dice votes have been called uh so we are now going to stand in recess to the end of [59:25] this vote i expect it to take 20 to 25 minutes but we are now in recess