Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates and justification for fiscal year 2025 for the Department of State.
Senate Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
2024-05-21
Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
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Unknown
Good morning. The committee will come to order. Welcome back, Secretary Wormuth. We appreciate your leadership of our nation's Army, and we look forward to discussing with you the Army's budget priorities for fiscal year 2025. And welcome, General George, to your first hearing before this subcommittee. I'm interested to hear your perspectives, and we look forward to hearing from you. The fiscal year 2025 budget request for the Department of the Army is $180.3 billion, excluding funds for MilCon, which is the same level as the enacted number for fiscal year 2024. Fiscal 24, once again, and unfortunately, unsurprisingly, began under a continuing resolution, which ended up lasting for a full six months. Our entire military is affected by CRs, but coupled with a months-long delay in enacting the National Security Supplemental, the Army was doubly affected because you were unable to replace weapons systems you donated to Ukraine with modern capabilities. I'm glad that Congress finally got its act together and passed the National Security Supplemental, but just like the regular appropriations bill, it was needlessly delayed by many months. Worldwide challenges and threats are constantly evolving, And as we discussed last year, the Army's response to the increasingly complex battlefield of the future is to transform into the Army of 2030. This transformation includes investments in people, the reorganization of forces, the development of new equipment, and the adoption of new concepts to defeat adversaries. We can best help the Army on its path to modernization through the timely enactment of a defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025. One-time appropriations provide the resource predictability On time, excuse me, on time appropriations provide the resource predictability that enable the Army to execute training and operational plans effectively for the entire fiscal year. I look forward to working with Senator Murray and Collins, and of course, the real chairman, Senator Tester, to position us for success to getting a budget passed on time.
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Unknown
Thank you very much, Chairman Schatz, and welcome to your new role on this subcommittee. Secretary Wormuth, it's great to see you again. General George, as this is your first time testifying before our subcommittee, I want to welcome you. Thank you both for your service and your leadership. One of my chief concerns for the Army this year remains the same as it was last year, and that is recruiting. Madam Secretary, I commend you and the Chief for your steadfast refusal to compromise on recruiting standards, and I understand from your written testimony that the results of the future soldier prep course continue to be promising. Nevertheless, the Army either missed its recruiting objectives or lowered them in three of the last five years. The proposed active duty and strength represents the smallest active duty Army since the start of the volunteer force in 1973. It is substantially less than the Army's goal of 470,000 soldiers by the year 2029. I look forward to hearing how the Army is updating its recruiting approach and what resources are included in your budget request to recruit enough qualified men and women. While the National Security Strategy's primary focus focus is competition with China. Army soldiers, along with our sailors and marines, are in harm's way today in the Middle East.
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Unknown
It is also the Army, more than any other service, that is providing the lion's share of equipment and training to help Ukraine's own army defeat and defend against Russia's brutal invasion. I would ask our witnesses to clearly articulate how the Army's proposed modernization efforts and force structure changes will improve the Army's posture to address these growing threats. In particular, I'm interested in hearing more about how you plan to integrate robotic and unmanned systems into your future formations using platforms like the robotic combat vehicle a very innovative company in maine i'm pleased to say how and how is contributing to this critical technology general george counter drone technology is also at the top of your unfunded priorities list i hope you will share with us in greater detail your prioritization of those capabilities, since I share your view on their importance. The recently passed supplemental bill included more than $380 million for Army counter drone systems, none of which I would know was included in the original supplemental request. So I'm glad that working with Chairman Murray and Chairman Tester that we have been able to address that critical need. It's important as we deal with the attacks against Israel and against our forces that are in harm's way from the threats posed by Iran and its proxies.
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Unknown
Let me give you one illustration of why these investments are so important. The son of one of the most experienced workers at an ornament plant in Saco, Maine, was deployed with the army in the Middle East after October 7th. His army unit was protected from these inbound drones by the very weapon systems built in Saco. So we must never forget that there are real lives at stake, and that is why it's so critical
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