"With threats ranging from those in the Western Hemisphere to non-state actors, proxies, and terrorism around the globe, we also continue to face challenges from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea," Rep. Jackson said. "...By ensuring our DIE has what it needs, and our intelligence efforts are synchronized, we increase our warfighters’ lethality, survivability, and capacity to provide for our nation’s defense and counter whatever threats may arise, now and in the future." Read more »
"Every policy we examine in this room, how we recruit, how we retain, how we take care of families, either strengthens or weakens the force those men and women serve in," Rep. Fallon said. "We owe them our best work. Today's hearing is about the people who build and sustain our force, not just the numbers, but the policies that determine whether a 22-year-old from Texas decides to enlist, whether a mid-career NCO decides to stay, and whether a military family can actually build a life around service." Read more »
"President Trump’s 2027 budget represents the first serious effort to course-correct and rebuild our nation’s munitions production capacity – this is critical for our missile defense enterprise," Rep. DesJarlais said. Read more »
"I think that we can all agree that the declining readiness trends are unacceptable," Rep. Bergman said. "These trends have been years in the making and are causing aircraft to be cannibalized and ground vehicles to sit idle...The sad fact is that we have allowed our military readiness to decline across the board because we are more focused on procuring shiny objects than on holistically managing the day-to-day maintenance necessary to sustain our military." Read more »
"Improving aviation safety and protecting our national security are not mutually exclusive," Chairman Rogers said. "By taking our time and following regular order, we have produced a bill that does both. I thank the NTSB and the Pentagon for working with us throughout this process." Read more »
"We conduct command and control with the networks we have," Rep. Bacon said. "We pay our warfighters with the business applications we have. We plan and conduct operations on the desktops and laptops that we have. We fight at the speed of data, and the underlying IT has never been more important." Read more »
"As we have seen recently in Iran, space has become instrumental to every conflict with both space effects and support to the joint force," Rep. DesJarlais said. "Ukraine has also repeatedly shown us this same lesson, with jamming becoming routine and battle lines shifting as the availability of space-based communications changes. All our space capabilities play a vital role when it comes to winning the fight. Without Positioning, Navigating, and Timing (PNT), secure communications, or Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), our modern joint force would not be nearly as effective." Read more »
"Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, our Allies are beginning to step up," Chairman Rogers said. "And their commitment to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035 shows they are serious about assuming greater responsibility for their own defense." Read more »
"The United States Transportation Command and Maritime Administration – TRANSCOM and MARAD – provide vital logistics capabilities to support our force projection and help overcome the tyranny of distance," Rep. Kelly said. "It’s only getting harder to move and sustain our equipment and our people across these vast distances....We have to grow the Tanker Security Program fleet…recapitalize our organic sealift fleet…and address our aging strategic airlift, intra-theater airlift, and aerial refueling fleets." Read more »
"Special operations continue to be our greatest hedge against strategic distraction, used to impose cost on our adversaries, reestablish deterrence, and provide the nation with a position of advantage should deterrence fail," Rep. Jackson said. "We ask a lot of our Special Operations Forces, and the demands on and for them will only continue to grow." Read more »
