Rogers Opening Statement at Hearing on Engagement with Allies and Partners

Washington, DC, March 1, 2022
United States Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a hearing on Department of Defense and Department of State activities to engage with allies and partners in pursuit of U.S. national security objectives.
Lead Republican Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery are below:
Mr. Chairman, thank you for organizing today's hearing.
And thank you to our witnesses for appearing before us today.
Given Putin's war of choice, now is an especially important time to focus on how we provide security assistance to our allies and partners.
Security assistance, cooperation, and partnership programs run the full gambit - from training to lethal aid.
It enhances our diplomatic efforts to promote peace;
It strengthens our global presence;
And it improves our ability to defend ourselves and our allies.
These programs have proven successful in countering terrorism and positioning us to prevail in the great power competition.
In countries around the globe, security assistance enables us to effectively confront malign influence of China and Russia.
There is no greater example of the potential of these programs than Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the assistance provided Ukraine by this Administration hasn't reached its full potential.
It's been too little, too late.
This crisis began unfolding back in October.
At that time, Senator Inhofe and I implored Secretary Austin to send anti-air and anti-ship capabilities to Kyiv.
Our hope was that the administration would take the threat from Putin seriously and publicly airlift Javelins, Harpoons, and Stingers as deterrence.
For months, Ukrainians pleaded with us to send them these systems.
But the While House chose not to act.
They were more concerned about provoking Putin than defending democracy in Ukrainian.
It took until January for the first shipments to arrive in Ukraine.
And according to public press reports, it was only a couple of days ago that the administration finally agreed to send Stingers.
As I said, it's been too little and too late.
We're seeing the horror of Putin's war play out in front of us.
My colleagues and I sounded the alarm that Ukraine needed more lethal aid months ago.
We sponsored legislation to provide that aid.
I implore the Speaker to bring the NYET Act up for a vote as soon as possible.
With Ukraine under attack, it is now more important than ever to reinforce our NATO Allies, especially those on the Eastern Front.
Romania, Poland, and the Baltic States need advanced integrated air defense assets, missile systems, and an enhanced, permanent, U.S. troop presence.
And they need it yesterday.
China is watching how we respond to this crisis.
Now is not the time for equivocation.
This Administration needs to stand up to Putin.
The security of our nation and our allies is at stake.
Thank you again to our witnesses for joining us this morning. I look forward to your testimony.
Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement from Ranking Member McCaul.