Opening Statement (As Prepared)
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I would like to welcome our witnesses to today’s hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 defense budget request. We are joined by Secretary of Defense, Mr. Lloyd Austin III, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. I appreciate their insights as we evaluate the President’s budget request and build the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The FY2025 request seeks $849.8 billion for DoD consistent with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. In alignment with the National Defense Strategy, the request would invest foremost in people, the heart of our defense, and ensure that we meet the need to address the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the pacing challenge, and the acute threat presented by Russia. I appreciate that this year’s request, once again, links Department of Defense funding to an overarching strategy – a strategy that sets priorities and establishes a policy for which investments should be based. Meeting the strategy will require continued investments for the future through innovation and technology. It also means divesting costly legacy systems.
The budget request seeks to ensure military compensation remains competitive through pay raises and increased allowances. These increases, together with expanded marketing and advertising initiatives, are critical if we’re to sustain an All-Volunteer Force. The budget expands capacity and access to childcare by improving the pay of providers and building new childcare centers which will help shorten wait lists and support military families. It asks for $13.4 billion in facilities sustainment and modernization funds, much of which will be used to improve the conditions in unaccompanied housing. The Department is also continuing to invest in sexual assault prevention and implementing the military justice reforms we passed a couple of years ago, including the implementation of the independent Offices of Special Trial Counsel.
Around the world, we are witnessing Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea work together in ways we have not seen before as they attempt to remake the rules based international order into something that they control be it in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, or the Middle East. To address this challenge, interagency synchronization is essential to ensuring our national security is holistic and rock-solid. Defense is just one element that is upheld by diplomacy and development. It is also essential to prioritize the bedrock that has enhanced our security for decades – our network of partners and allies. This network strengthens our work to deter the PRC and to respond to Russian aggression. Together, our shared security interests are advanced, and the rules-based international order is upheld. Our allies and partners strengthen our common security and I’m pleased to see the budget invests in the establishment Defense Security Cooperation Service, envisioned by the FY2024 NDAA, which will ensure an educated workforce that is well-versed in the skills needed to deliver capabilities quickly and effectively to our allies and partners while understanding essential requirements tied to such assistance.
Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine highlights the need to reinvest in our partnerships and alliances in NATO. The United States and a large network of allies and partners in Europe and across the globe have jointly worked to meet Ukraine’s needs to defend its sovereignty from Russia’s invasion. Assistance must continue to ensure that Putin’s dark and dangerous worldview does not destroy the rules based international order that has been so beneficial for the United States for so long. This international effort to ensure Ukraine remains a sovereign, viable country was only possible due to prior investments in readiness, including via the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI). The FY2025 budget request would continue counter-Russian deterrence with a combination of programs totaling $3.9 billion. $300 million would also be invested in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative base funding.
We must also continue to reinforce security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The FY25 budget request includes $9.9 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative. This request supports efforts to modernize U.S. capabilities, build Indo-Pacific partnerships, enhance collective readiness, and improve logistics. Funding would include investments in autonomous systems and other innovative technologies, and multinational information sharing, training, and experimentation. Through the AUKUS agreement, for example, we are making key cooperative investments and cementing the relationship further via security cooperation efforts.
We must keep looking to the future as we evaluate the budget and conduct oversight in the NDAA. An investment in security means also investing in our competitiveness. Science and technology, research and development, education, and the industrial base are all critical enablers of future capabilities. Rapid and continuous evolution in artificial intelligence and data management, autonomy, unmanned systems, electromagnetic spectrum warfare, cyberspace, and other areas is already reshaping the modern battlefield. In order to deter adversaries and, if necessary, fight and win, U.S. forces must be able to get to and operate anywhere in the world. The Department must continue to adapt to getting survivability right and harden critical information infrastructure, an iterative process that is constantly changing, especially for acquisition and management. I’m pleased to see that the budget continues to leverage the multi-year procurement authorities provided by Congress to bolster inventories, particularly for critical munitions. And, we can’t overlook divestment of legacy system that don’t enable the modern and capable force we seek to build.
With regard to our strategic deterrent, this year’s budget request includes $49 billion across modernization of weapons, platforms, and nuclear command, control, and communications efforts. Despite this staggering number, nearly every program is facing delays or cost overruns. Specifically, the Sentinel program has reached a critical breach in both cost and schedule and has the potential to consume a significant portion of the Department’s budget in the coming years. As the program goes through the Nunn-McCurdy process, leadership must take a hard look at what will have to be cut in future budgets if the decision is made to continue sinking billions of dollars into an architecture that was designed decades ago.
This committee has worked for nearly a decade to require the Pentagon to undergo an audit. It is essential that we get the Department to a position where taxpayers can have full faith and confidence in the Department’s ability to track and account for the money we authorize and appropriate each year. I’m pleased that earlier this year the U.S. Marine Corps became the first Service to receive an unmodified audit opinion. This achievement reflects years of work to modernize processes, update systems, account for equipment and materiel, and train personnel. It provides an opportunity to share lessons learned across the Department and also highlights areas for additional improvement. Audit efforts provide better transparency, improve cybersecurity, and allow for consolidation and elimination of legacy systems, and the data management and process changes undergone as part of audit readiness are key enablers of a modern data-driven, artificial intelligence/machine learning-enabled management and leadership environment. This committee will continue to push to ensure that each of the Services and the entire Department are likewise able to make the sustained effort required to obtain and maintain an unmodified audit opinion.
Thank you and I look forward to today’s testimony.