Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at an organizational meeting for the 119^th Congress.
 
Chairman Rogers’ remarks as prepared for delivery:
 
Before we begin consideration of the business before us, I want to recognize myself for a few minutes to welcome everyone to the Armed Services Committee.
 
This committee’s fundamental responsibility is to provide for our nation’s common defense.
 
The work we do here is critical to the security of our county and that of its allies and partners around the world.
 
And while we have our disagreements, we have a long tradition of carrying out our responsibilities in a bipartisan manner.
 
That tradition will continue.
 
I look forward to working closely with Ranking Member Smith to enact an NDAA that strengthens our national defense and provides for our warfighters.
 
That effort starts in the next few weeks with a series of hearings and briefings focused on -
 

• the very complex and growing threats we face from our adversaries, especially China;
• the challenges facing our defense industrial base; and
• ways we can reform acquisition and field innovation much quicker.

 
Following these hearings, we will begin an aggressive schedule of hearings and briefings from leaders in the Pentagon and combatant commanders that will lead us to the NDAA markup.
 
We will also continue our oversight work on key defense programs to determine if they actually provide the capabilities we need.
 
If they don’t, they’ll be cut.
 
At the end of the day, I expect that we will find significant savings at the Pentagon.
 
But I want to be clear –
 

• buying the new technologies we need;
• paying the long over-due bills for readiness, and
• providing for our servicemembers,

 
will be a very expensive endeavor.
 
We cannot shy away from those investments.
 
Our adversaries are fielding new capabilities at astounding rates.
 
We can’t sit idly by as our adversaries outpace us.
 
We need to make significant and sustained investments in national defense.
 
But that’s not the path we’re on today.
 
Under the FRA, we are cutting defense by more than 2 percent.
 
This is the lowest level of defense spending as a percentage of GDP since the end of World War II.
 
That’s not sustainable.
 
And it will not deter our adversaries.
 
You’ll be hearing me talk a lot about getting defense spending back above 4 percent of GDP.
 
If we are serious about peace through strength, we need to get back to that level of investment.
 
I look forward to working with all of you to accomplish these goals.
 
With that, I want to quickly introduce our seven new Republican members:
 

• Derrick Van Orden from Wisconsin - Derrick served in the U.S. Navy for 26 years, retiring as a Navy SEAL Senior Chief with multiple combat tours across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

• John McGuire from Virginia - John served as a United States Navy SEAL for 10 years. Following his military career, Rep. McGuire founded a small business preparing young men and women for service in our military and law enforcement, and he served in the Virginia House of Delegates. 

• Pat Harrigan from North Carolina – Pat is a West Point graduate and combat-decorated Green Beret who served two tours in Afghanistan. Following his service, he founded a thriving defense manufacturing business in North Carolina.

• Mark Messmer from Indiana – Mark represents Indiana’s 8^th Congressional District which is home to Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division, the largest Naval Instillation in the United States and the third largest Naval Instillation in the world. Mark is a former member of the Indiana State House and Senate, serving the last 4 years as the Senate Majority Leader.

• Derek Schmidt from Kansas – Derek is a 5th generation Kansan who served for 12 years as the Attorney General of Kansas. He represents Kansas’ 2nd district, which includes Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth, and the headquarters for the both the Kansas Army and Air National Guard.

• Jeff Crank from Colorado – Jeff is filling the shoes of our former colleague Doug Lamborn and represents the home of the Air Force Academy, NORAD, and several significant Army, Air Force, and Space Force installations.

• Abe Hamadeh from Arizona - Abe represents Arizona’s 8^th congressional district. Since 2016, he has served in the U.S. Army Reserve as an intelligence officer, deploying to Saudi Arabia in 2020.