Opening Statements

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) delivered the following opening statement at a hearing on the  Air Force FY27 Budget Request.

Chairman Rogers' Statement as Prepared for Delivery:

Today we close out our FY27 budget and posture hearings with the Department of the Air Force.

I want to thank the Members for their hard work and dedication as we worked through the dozens of hearings and briefings necessary to inform our approach to this year’s NDAA. I also want to thank the Department for their cooperation as we conducted this critical oversight.

I welcome our witnesses and thank them for their service to our nation.

For too long, we’ve underfunded defense. And now we’re seeing the consequences.

Our munitions are low and we don’t have enough aircraft and autonomous systems to ensure victory over every adversary. There have been unacceptable declines in readiness. And our defense industrial base has shrunk and is no longer capable of rapidly scaling production.

That’s why I was so pleased to see that the President is requesting a significant increase in the budget for Air Force and Space Force.

This budget puts to an end the old divest-to-invest strategy that has done nothing but pit modernization against sustainment. The result of several years of that strategy is an Air Force that suffers today from unacceptably low mission capable rates, while it continues to wait on the delivery of modernized assets that are still years away.

This budget includes a 23 percent increase for operations and maintenance – crucial funding required to better sustain our legacy systems.

The budget also invests in modernization with a 54 percent increase to develop and procure critically needed capabilities. It will enable us to accelerate key deterrent capabilities, including the Golden Dome, B-21, and Sentinel.

I am very pleased with the budget request for the Space Force which recognizes its growing importance as a warfighting domain. It enables the Space Force to increase its support to the joint force and our combatant commanders, and it funds new mission areas like defending our space assets and breaking red kill chains.

We cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to developing our capabilities in space. Our adversaries are well-aware of the importance of space-based capabilities and the advantages they provide.

I also want to highlight the increase in this request for munitions and the industrial base. These funding areas are especially critical to restoring American deterrence.

We began this restoration last year with funds in reconciliation and multi-year authority in the NDAA. I hope to hear about the Air Force’s progress on implementing that authority and increasing production.

Finally, I’d like to hear how you plan to use the acquisition authorities given to you by this committee to make sure that the money in this request will be well spent and accelerate capability to the warfighter.

As we have seen recently in Operation Epic Fury and Operation Absolute Resolve, our Air and Space Forces are central to the success of the joint force and our national security. Their personnel, capabilities, and readiness are crucial to our ability to prevail in the conflicts of today and to deter our adversaries moving forward.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to deliver a budget that will enable our airmen and guardians to continue to successfully fulfill their mission.

Before I close, I’d like to thank you, General Saltzman, for your years of dedicated service, and congratulate you on your retirement.