During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) had a tense exchange with Katherine Thompson, who is performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
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00:00The gentleman yields back here, and I recognize the gentlelady from Pennsylvania, Ms. Houlihan.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you all for being here today.
00:09And Ms. Thompson, I wanted to start with you.
00:12We are here to talk about the European theater.
00:15We're here to talk about our commitments to Europe and the NATO allies.
00:19I wanted to raise concerns about remarks that we have recently experienced over the last three days
00:26in terms of the tariffs that are going to be levied across the entire world,
00:30including, of course, many of our allies in Europe.
00:34Senator Rubio recently argued that these tariffs would not meaningfully affect European defense budgets or NATO's cohesion,
00:41and he suggested that the tariffs would be justified without undermining readiness of our allies.
00:47I worry very much that, based on your opening testimony,
00:51asking our NATO allies to spend more, build more, that tariffs cannot possibly not affect readiness.
01:00Can you please expound with me on your perspective from the DOD
01:05on how might the imposition of significant tariffs impact our European allies
01:10and their ability to meet NATO defense spending requirements as levied by this administration?
01:15Thank you for the question, Congresswoman, and it's an important dynamic that you bring up,
01:19so I appreciate you highlighting it.
01:21What I would say from the Department of Defense's purview and lane,
01:24because I don't want to speak for the broader implications of tariffs on diplomatic relationships or their effects,
01:29because that's more in commerce-treasury lane,
01:31but what I would say from the Department's perspective is what we want to make sure is that any levers we're pulling
01:37don't impede our objective, as the Secretary has stated in his first visit to NATO,
01:42which is a strong transatlantic industrial base on both sides of the Atlantic.
01:45That includes bolstering not only our own production, our own defense industrial base,
01:50but also Europeans investing in theirs, and we want to ensure that they're certainly able to do so in their comparative advantage.
01:57So I'm going to stop because I don't think that you can differentiate between the Defense Department and commerce in this sense.
02:06This is absolutely the industrial base, the defense industrial base is directly connected to commerce,
02:13and our commerce is directly connected to that of our allies and our friends,
02:19and I think that we can't possibly believe that our actions on the national level to impose very, very high tariffs and levies upon our allies
02:30could not affect their readiness and their ability to produce and manufacture and even buy from the United States those weapon systems amongst other things.
02:40I'm really frustrated, to be honest, with your testimony, which has consistently been evasive
02:46and consistently tried to say that it's not within your lane to comment on things,
02:50and I guess I went back to try to understand your position and your tenure, and I've got to be honest.
03:00It appears as though you've been in this job a very short amount of time,
03:04and it appears as though you've been here a very, very short amount of time,
03:09and so I would ask the administration why you're the person that they asked us to talk to about these issues,
03:15because it just doesn't seem as though you have the knowledge to be able to answer the questions.
03:22I will echo my colleagues' frustration that I don't want to waste my time on these questions.
03:29General Cavoli, I'm so, so sorry about the soldiers that we lost in Lithuania.
03:34I am very, very sorry, particularly for their soldiers themselves and their families,
03:40but I'm also particularly saddened that is the partner nation with Pennsylvania,
03:45and so I take it very, very seriously that we have an amazing alliance with the Lithuanians,
03:53and worry very, very much that our men and women, Pennsylvanians, will be in harm's way,
03:58possibly if we don't find the way to peace, and we don't find the way to address Putin's aggression,
04:05not just with Ukraine, but his intents with the rest of the European continent, I believe.
04:10I also do want to thank you so much for your service, sir,
04:13and I really do hope that you have opportunities to enjoy the remainder of whatever life brings you.
04:22I'm very, very grateful to you. With that, I yield back.