Press Releases

Today, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made the following remarks on the hearing titled “Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Request for Atomic Energy Defense:”

"Welcome to our hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request for the defense-related activities carried out by the Department of Energy.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. We know how much work goes into preparing for these hearings and we thank you. Our distinguished witnesses are:

• Lt Gen Frank Klotz (USAF, ret.)

Administrator

National Nuclear Security Administration

• Ms. Monica Regalbuto

Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management

U.S. Department of Energy

• Ms. Joyce Connery

Chairwoman

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

General Klotz, you have some very able folks in support of you today that I also want to recognize:

• Admiral Frank Caldwell;

• Brigadier General S.L. Davis; and

• Ms. Anne Harrington.

If any of our Members have questions directly for these folks later in the hearing, we’ll ensure they can step up to the table to answer as needed.

Before I hand the floor over to the Ranking Member, let me briefly highlight just a few key issues for today’s hearing.

First, since this is our subcommittee’s first budget hearing for FY17, let me put a marker down. Let’s start out the year by putting to rest this notion that our nuclear deterrent is 'unaffordable.'

This is—quite simply—ridiculous.

A recent think-tank report got it right:

• 'the issue is not affordability—rather, it is a matter of prioritization. Should nuclear forces, and by extension their modernization programs, be given higher priority in the budget than other forces?'

We have the answer to this question. From the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff—and everyone on down the line.

Senior leaders across the board have stated clearly and unequivocally that our nuclear deterrent is the nation’s 'highest priority mission.'

So our senior military and civilian leaders have shown that our nuclear deterrent will be robustly supported—even if at the expense of other capabilities—because it is our top priority.

These programs are not optional, and are the core of U.S. security and international stability.

And at the very center of that core are the people and programs at NNSA that provide our nation with our nuclear deterrent.

General Klotz, we are happy to have you yet again at our subcommittee representing the dedicated individuals who work in our nuclear enterprise. Their important contributions to the nation are largely unsung, but we certainly thank them and know you do too.

And once again, the subcommittee will take a detailed look at NNSA’s budget request and scrub it hard to ensure it is meeting the military’s priorities.

While it continues to meet the day-to-day needs of the military, NNSA must also focus on the programs that set it up for the future. That means having the people and skills, the infrastructure and tools, and the structures and processes to meet a highly uncertain nuclear future.

I fear we’re focusing too much on the present and not enough on the future. But we’ll get into that during the question period."