During a House Armed Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) gave opening remarks about national security issues and slammed President Biden’s defense budget.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Without objection, the chair reserves the right to declare the committee in recess at
00:07 any point.
00:08 Before I begin, I want to remind those in the audience this hearing is open to the public,
00:15 but actions that disrupt or distract from the proceedings will not be tolerated.
00:19 I also want to remind members that if you have to enter or leave the room, please do
00:23 so through the ante room and not through the doors in the back because the noise is very
00:27 distracting to our witnesses and members on the dais.
00:31 The chair reserves the right to remove disruptive persons from the hearing.
00:35 I want to thank our witnesses for appearing and for your service to our nation.
00:40 Over the last two months, we've heard from each of our combatant commanders that the
00:45 threats we face today are more complex and more formidable than at any point over the
00:49 last 30 years.
00:51 They each raised grave concerns about how China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are working
00:58 together to reduce America's global influence, harm our alliances, and undermine our national
01:04 security.
01:05 Iran and North Korea are arming Russia with deadly effect in Ukraine.
01:11 And China's No Limits partnership with Russia is paying off for both countries.
01:18 Russia is getting critical economic assistance, rocket motors, and microelectronics from China.
01:24 Putin is using the assistance to keep his economy afloat and to produce the missiles,
01:29 aircraft, and other weaponry that is devastating Ukraine.
01:34 China is getting cheap oil and vital missile technology and enriched uranium from Russia.
01:39 Xi is using the assistance to help his economy recover and to fuel his breathtaking buildup
01:47 of space-based and nuclear weapons.
01:49 China is also buying over a million bars of oil a day from Iran in defiance of Western
01:55 sanctions.
01:57 The Ayatollah is using the oil revenues to fund his nuclear ambitions, arm his terrorist
02:03 proxies, and launch an unprecedented and unjustified direct attack on Israel.
02:10 Putin, Xi, Kim, and the Ayatollah are testing the credibility of American deterrence and
02:15 the strength of our alliances.
02:18 After witnessing the President's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and his hand-wringing
02:23 approach to providing lethal aid to Ukraine, they sense weakness in American resolve.
02:31 We can't leave them with that impression.
02:34 And we can't let them continue to get away with their malign actions.
02:38 We must restore American deterrence.
02:42 But to do so, we need a budget that will enable that.
02:45 We need a budget that supports the rapid modernization of our military, a budget that fully funds
02:50 readiness to ensure we can fight tonight, and a budget that will improve the quality
02:55 of life of our service members so we can recruit and retain the most lethal fighting force
03:02 on the planet.
03:03 Unfortunately, this budget does not do those things.
03:07 The 1 percent increase it proposes entirely is inadequate.
03:13 It actually is a 2 percent cut when you factor in inflation.
03:17 But this is the hand dealt to us by the Fiscal Responsibility Act that we all have responsibility
03:24 for enacting.
03:27 As we move to mark up the FY25 NDA, we will play that hand that was dealt to us.
03:34 But we all need to understand the risk to our national security that this level of investment
03:39 presents.
03:40 I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about what this budget means for our military
03:44 readiness, our modernization timeliness, and our efforts to improve service member quality
03:50 of life.
03:51 And most importantly, what this budget means for our ability to deter our increasingly
03:56 undeterred adversaries.