U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on the Department of the Army's Fiscal Year 2025 budget request.
Chairman Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery:
Today we continue our review of the FY25 budget requests with the U.S. Army.
I thank our witnesses for being here and for their service to our nation.
The FY25 defense budget is extremely tight.
The FRA caps total defense spending at $895 billion in FY25.
That's less than a 1 percent increase over FY24.
When you factor in inflation, that 1 percent increase is actually a 2 percent cut.
No service is hit harder than the Army.
The Army continues to be the Pentagon's bill payer.
The President's budget cuts operations and maintenance, putting readiness of the force at risk.
It cuts Army research and development, including a 39 percent reduction in early-stage research and development projects that are critical to Army modernization efforts.
It cuts the procurement of combat vehicles and ammunition.
And proposes to cancel two major modernization programs.
But for as bad as the budget request is for the Army, it will get much worse if Congress fails to pass the national security supplemental.
The Army is struggling to pay the unplanned operating costs of increased deployments and higher operations tempos in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The Army is also rapidly running through its supply of interceptors, as it defends Israel and our troops from Iran's unjustified missile and drone attacks.
Furthermore, the Army is the lead supplier of drawdown assistance to Israel and Ukraine.
Without supplemental funding to replace the weapons we're providing and expand the industrial base, the Army will be hard pressed to meet operational requirements in the event of a conflict with China.
Making matters worse is the fact that the Army continues to struggle with a historic recruiting crisis.
The Army missed its recruiting goals over the last two years by a combined 25,000 soldiers.
The Army is taking action though.
I want to commend Secretary Wormuth and General George for requesting significant increases in this budget to improve the quality of life for our soldiers and their families.
This includes increased funding to build new, and modernize existing, barracks.
It also includes increases for programs to expand access to childcare.
These requests track closely with the recommendations of our Quality of Life panel.
The panel's recommendations will form the foundation of the FY25 NDAA.
If we're going to deter China, we need to recruit and retain the best and brightest.
Addressing the quality of life issues our soldiers face will help us do just that.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact these priorities.
