Jul 20, 2021
Press Release
Washington, DC - U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a hearing on non-governmental views of the FY22 Department of Defense budget.
Ranking Member Rogers' remarks as prepared for delivery:
Today, the Committee is hearing the views of non-governmental stakeholders on the President defense budget.
Over the past month, we’ve heard budget presentations from Secretary Austin, Chairman Milley, and each of the service chiefs and secretaries.
To date, no one has been able to put lipstick on this pig.
The fact remains - this budget is woefully inadequate.
It doesn’t keep pace with China.
It doesn’t even keep pace with inflation.
In fact, it constitutes a cut of over 4 billion in real dollars.
The budget cuts the number of Navy ships and destabilizes the shipbuilding industrial base.
It slashes procurements across the board.
It guts missile defense.
It leaves unfunded over $25 billion in combatant commander priorities.
It accelerates divestment of critical capabilities before replacements are available.
And it cuts the size of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
We’ve heard a lot about how this budget invests in modernization, while maintaining readiness.
But it actually does neither.
Accelerating divestments and slashing the budget for new ships, aircraft, and combat vehicles saves $13 billion.
But it undermines readiness by creating dangerous gaps in near-term capability.
To make matters worse, the $13 billion savings are NOT being reinvested in the development of next generation capability.
In fact, those savings are NOT being reinvested anywhere in the DOD.
Instead, they’re being used to pay for a colossal list of far left priorities.
The President is proposing to swell non-defense spending by a massive 16 percent.
And that doesn’t count the nearly $2 trillion already wasted on COVID stimulus this year.
Or the $4 trillion in new mandatory spending the President and Democrats intend to ram through Congress this Summer.
None of that money, NOT a single dollar, will be spent on the defense of this nation.
We’re going to talk a lot about the national defense strategy today and how to properly resource it.
But by the looks of this budget, it appears President Biden has already settled on a new strategy.
And it’s a stark departure from the past.
Instead of deterring conflict with China through strength, we’re inviting conflict through weakness.
And if the President continues underfund our national security, we will lose that conflict.
That’s unacceptable.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
I urge my colleagues to reject this budget and work in a bipartisan manner to make the necessary investments in our national defense.