| 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 Department of Defense Nuclear Forces.” For the testimony for this hearing click here. "Welcome to our hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget request for the nation’s nuclear forces. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and for serving our country. We know how much work goes into preparing for these hearings and we thank you. Our witnesses are: • The Honorable Robert Scher Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities • Dr. Arthur Hopkins Who is performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs • General Robin Rand Commander Air Force Global Strike Command • Vice Admiral Terry Benedict Director Navy Strategic Systems Programs This is our third hearing on the budget request for FY17. At our first two hearings, we heard from your partners over at the Department of Energy and from senior leaders at STRATCOM and OSD. As my colleague and friend from Tennessee, Ranking Member Jim Cooper, said at both of those hearings—we have a strong, bipartisan agreement that nuclear deterrence is the nation’s number 1 priority defense mission and we must recapitalize our nuclear forces. From the Secretary of Defense, to the service secretaries and chiefs, to the key leaders here in Congress—we’re all in resounding agreement. Together, we know that not only is the coming nuclear modernization affordable—it is the highest priority. And because it is our top priority it will be robustly supported and funded—even if it comes at the expense of other capabilities. This is a hard-won bipartisan consensus on defense priorities in a tremendously difficult budget environment. At the heart of this consensus is a collective understanding that these programs are not optional—that they are instead the foundation of U.S. security and international stability. And now we need to get on with the nitty-gritty of actually carrying out those programs. The Air Force and the Navy must request the funding necessary and manage the programs well. While Congress must do its part to authorize, appropriate, and oversee them. We will scrub your requests hard—and press you equally hard to ensure you are managing them for efficiency and success. Together, I am confident we will ensure the U.S. nuclear deterrent remains what Secretary Carter calls: • 'the bedrock of our security [and] the foundation for everything we do.' Thank you again to our witnesses—I look forward to the discussion." | 
