Tim Kaine Slams ‘Glaring Inaccuracies’ Of Pete Hegseth’s Tweet On Cancellation Of WPS Program

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Armed Committee hearing last week, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) spoke about the termination of the Women, Peace and Security program.

Transcript

00:00And this senator yields back her time. Now, Senator Cain, I haven't asked my questions yet.

00:10Do you think I should... I'm not in a rush, Mr. Chair. No, go ahead and ask your question, sir.

00:15Well, thank you, and congratulations to the nominees. You're both very qualified. I look

00:19forward to supporting you. I want to begin, actually, just by putting some breaking news

00:23on the record. This morning, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, tweeted as follows,

00:28This morning, I proudly ended the Women, Peace, and Security program inside the Department of

00:33Defense. WPS is yet another woke, divisive, social justice Biden initiative that overburdens our

00:39commanders and troops, distracting from our core task warfighting. WPS is a United Nations program

00:46pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it. Troops hate it.

00:51DOD will hereby execute the minimum of WPS required by statute and fight to end the program for our

00:56next budget. Good riddance, WPS, close quote. I wanted to read this because that tweet contains

01:04some glaring inaccuracies that are far beneath the standard we should expect from a Department

01:10of Defense. First, WPS is yet another woke, divisive, social justice Biden initiative.

01:17WPS was passed by a unanimous vote in the Senate in October of 2017, when the Senate was majority

01:23Republican and Donald Trump was president, and he signed it. Does our Secretary of Defense not know

01:29the difference between a bill that was passed by the Biden administration and one that was passed and

01:34signed in the Trump administration? Secondly, politicians fawn over it. Troops hate it. I return to the

01:42hearing this committee had to consider the confirmation of General Cain, and I read the following testimony.

01:49Senator Shaheen, General Cain, congratulations on your nomination. One of the things that we discussed

01:55was the women, peace, and security legislation that was signed by President Trump during his first term,

02:01and it mandates that women should be at the table in conflict resolution and peace negotiations.

02:07And at DOD, that's meant having women involved in security cooperation programs that really give us,

02:13I think, an advantage over our adversaries like China and Russia. Just for the record,

02:17are you familiar with the WPS program General Cain? General Cain, I am, Senator. Yes. Senator Shaheen,

02:24and do you believe that it's a DEI program? General Cain, I do not. Senator Shaheen, thank you. Can you

02:31provide some examples of the operational advantage that from your perspective this gives us? General

02:37Cain, well, Senator, I can just give you my own personal recollections from being deployed. Before this

02:43was precursors of the program, but when we would go out into the field, and after concluding an assault,

02:48we would have female members who would speak with those women and children who were on the objective,

02:53and they would help us to understand the human terrain in new and novel ways. And so WPS is,

02:59I think, a program that really helps us to understand the full spectrum of challenges that are in front of us.

03:07Close quote from the testimony of our confirmed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If the

03:13Secretary of Defense cannot understand the difference between a Biden admission, a Biden

03:19initiative, and a Trump administration, and when the Secretary of Defense claims that troops hate

03:24something that the newly confirmed head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appreciates, I got to add this to

03:31the 1,000 questions about the judgment of this secretary that I've already raised. I'm stunned

03:41at the lack of professionalism that this tweet demonstrates. Look, we aired out pretty carefully

03:47at this hearing the secretary's own antipathy to women in service and his own track record of poor

03:53treatment of women in leadership positions. The fact that he doesn't like WPS, that's one thing.

03:58But the fact that he claims that it's a Biden initiative when it isn't, an initiative that

04:05was supported unanimously by a Republican majority Senate, and that troops hate it when the newly

04:09confirmed head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testifies to its value, I find shocking. Now I'll go to my

04:15questions, if I could. And Admiral Papano, you were asked a question earlier about recruiting and hiring

04:21within an NSA, and you point out that you weren't, you know, fully up to speed on the current. But I want

04:26to go back. The GAO did a report in May 2024 that I imagine you probably are aware of, and it discussed

04:34challenges that the NNSA faced in recruiting and retaining staff because of intense competition with

04:40other industries and other agencies. This is a skill set that's in pretty high demand. So should you be

04:45confirmed, how would you approach that challenge, making sure that we, you know, keep the good talent

04:51we have and continue to attract new talent in an important place where there's a lot of competition

04:55in the private sector and the public sector, too? Thank you for the question, Senator. Yes,

05:00if confirmed, I will certainly advocate for the men and women of NNSA and the laboratories,

05:04understanding that there's a unique skill set critical to national security everywhere from

05:09skilled trades up to weapons designers and nuclear physicists. And so it is sometimes hard to find

05:15those people, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to go attract, recruit,

05:20train, retain those people as part of national security. And that could start everywhere from,

05:25you know, looking at programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, you know,

05:30K-12, up to colleges, what opportunities we have out there to go get people interested in that line

05:36of work and develop them going forward.

05:38I'm sure you probably have the tools you need to do that, but should you find that you don't,

05:44please let the committee know if there are additional tools we can provide to help you

05:47meet that mission. Thank you, Senator. You've confirmed that I look forward to working with

05:51the committee if I need additional tools. I yield back having taken the 38 seconds that

05:55Senator Warren undershot. The gentleman has nothing to yield back.

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