Press Releases

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), House Armed Services Committee ranking member, today delivered the following speech at the Ronald Reagan Institute on "National Defense Policy and Priorities: Views from Congress and the American People."

On the Budget:

"The next four years are going to be a crucial period for our military and our nation. If we do not make the investments our military needs today, we will not be able to defend our nation or our allies in the future. The problem with decreased or flat defense budgets is that our adversaries aren't looking at cutting defense spending. It's the opposite."

On China:

"'Peace through our strength' is what has maintained the world order we have known since the end of World War II. The CCP isn't interested in that. They are spending to surpass the United States and I'm afraid their doctrine will be ‘domination through strength.' I know that the Members of HASC, in a bipartisan manner, are taking the threat of China seriously. We will not allow China to become our peer militarily. We will do everything we can to ensure that DOD can outpace the PLA in abilities and capabilities."

On Space:

"Space is something that affects every American whether they know it or not. And our military can't do its job if the Russians or Chinese are able to interfere with our communications and reconnaissance abilities from space. We all know that the Chinese and Russians are actively competing with us in space. We cannot lose that domain to either of them."

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

Thank you for inviting me here today to the Reagan Institute. I am happy to provide the "Views from Congress" on national defense issues we are going to confront this year and in the coming years.

As I read your Defense Survey, you noted that "Americans still believe in President Reagan's vision of strong American leadership in the world, advancing the values of freedom and democracy abroad, and maintaining the peace through our strength."

The people of Alabama's Third District wholeheartedly agree with that and I've been sent to DC to uphold those values and leadership ideals. And I plan on doing just that as the Ranking Member at HASC.

But we cannot assume President Reagan's vision will just continue. We must advocate to be the beacon of freedom.

The world is a different place than at the beginning of this century. We have fought a War on Terror. We are facing rising peer competitors both militarily and economically. We are confronting, and hopefully defeating, a virus that has brought the world to a halt. And we are becoming a country dominated politically by the extremes of each party.

All that plays into my view as Ranking Member at HASC.

Facing these tests, I am constantly thinking how best Congress can position the DOD to confront foes and support democracy worldwide as we head into the remainder of the 21st Century. To do that, we must fully fund the DOD. Everyone here knows that during the BCA years, defense spending declined significantly as a percentage of all federal outlays and GDP.

I think our military has felt that pain and our warfighters have suffered because of it.

My biggest concern right now is where President Biden decides to come down on defense spending. As we all know, he is being pressured from his left to reduce defense spending. Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Budget Committee, said he wants to see a cut of 10 percent.

This is, in my opinion, pandering to the left without understand the ramifications of what he's calling for.

Yet, he's not alone in calling for cuts. Just two days ago, 50 Democrat House Members wrote to Biden urging him to submit a budget that reduces the defense budget. In fact, even a HASC Democrat was on that letter. This is a real threat to the Pentagon's budget and makes working on the NDAA that much harder.

But I'm certain that an NDAA or Defense appropriations with cuts will not pass the House. House Republicans just won't go along with that. And I don't believe a majority of Democrats will either.

The bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission recommended an annual 3 to 5 percent increase above the rate of inflation in the base defense budget. I agree with that recommendation and in fact my colleagues and I wrote to Biden suggesting he hit that spending target.

I also believe that the vast majority of Congressional Republicans support an annual increase of 3 to 5 percent and will want to see that in any NDAA brought to the House for consideration.

The next four years are going to be a crucial period for our military and our nation. If we do not make the investments our military needs today, we will not be able to defend our nation or our allies in the future.

The problem with decreased or flat defense budgets is that our adversaries aren't looking at cutting defense spending. It's the opposite.

The Chinese Communist Party increased its defense spending by over 75 percent in the last decade. As a result, the Chinese military has gone from an obsolete force barely able to defend its borders to a modern fighting force capable of winning regional conflicts.

If we do nothing, over the next decade, China will fully modernize its military, potentially bringing it into parity with our own.

"Peace through our strength" is what has maintained the world order we have known since the end of World War II. The CCP isn't interested in that. They are spending to surpass the United States and I'm afraid their doctrine will be "domination through strength."

I know that the Members of HASC, in a bipartisan manner, are taking the threat of China seriously. We will not allow China to become our peer militarily. We will do everything we can to ensure that DOD can outpace the PLA in abilities and capabilities.

To confront a rising China, we are going to have to make decisions between legacy platforms and new technologies. Those are going to be hard choices for Congress, but I'm willing to lead on these decisions. We must support our strength with the requisite resources.

Peace through strength comes from the strategic capabilities we possess. Specifically, our greatest deterrent of confrontation with China and Russia is our nuclear arsenal. I can't reaffirm this more.

It is critical to our nation's security that we continue our nuclear modernization program. This includes all three legs of the nuclear triad, its weapons systems and weapons production, and nuclear infrastructure.

Critics frequently argue that this is too expensive. Yet, the reality is that at its peak nuclear modernization is expected to cost 6.4% of the entire defense budget. If we don't execute our nuclear modernization programs, we are making America vulnerable.

It's been more than 30 years since we last modernized. Think of all the technological advancements achieved in that time. And think of how dramatically the threat picture has changed. To not modernize our nuclear arsenal is malpractice.

Meanwhile, our foes are seeking or have already rapidly advanced their nuclear capabilities on their own. Russia has managed to exempt from arms control the bulk of its nuclear modernization program, building new systems and increasing their stockpiles of non-strategic weapons. China will soon field its own nuclear triad and its nuclear stockpile is expected to "double, if not triple or quadruple" over the next decade. North Korea seeks to threaten the U.S. homeland with nuclear-armed ICBMs and could restart nuclear or missile testing. Iran is ramping up its research and development on its nuclear program and pushing limits that are concerning to the international community.

It would be a fatal and strategic mistake for us to lose our deterrence capability. The Obama Administration understood this. The Trump Administration took steps to execute this. It's incumbent for the Biden Administration to complete this with the necessary resources for DoD and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The other thing I will add is that some on the left believe that the U.S. should adopt a "no-first-use" or "sole purpose" policy. That is misguided and ultimately dangerous. It is not supported by our allies in Europe or in the Pacific, and artificially limits our ability to provide for a credible deterrent capability.

Now, I can't afford to miss an opportunity in front of a captive audience to speak about something near to my heart – the Space Force. Space is something that affects every American whether they know it or not. And our military can't do its job if the Russians or Chinese are able to interfere with our communications and reconnaissance abilities from space.

We all know that the Chinese and Russians are actively competing with us in space. We cannot lose that domain to either of them. Once I understood that, is when I pushed for the Space Force.

As we enter year two of Space Force as the sixth military service, I'm going to make sure it has the budget resources and authorities it needs to continue to mature and deliver the systems and services the joint force needs as we confront our adversaries.

General Raymond has done a good job so far and I've built a great relationship with him. I am going to make sure he continues to mature this service. I want to see them continue to develop their own culture and doctrine.

We also need to change how we think about space architectures. We must start driving towards systems that are resilient, flexible, and interoperable. If we can harness the innovation of the commercial sector, we can make sure we outpace our competitors and that is what it's all about.

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