Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Tim Kaine Slams ‘Glaring Inaccuracies’ Of Pete Hegseth’s Tweet On Cancellation Of WPS Program
Forbes Breaking News
Follow
5/6/2025
During a Senate Armed Committee hearing last week, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) spoke about the termination of the Women, Peace and Security program.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
And this senator yields back her time. Now, Senator Cain, I haven't asked my questions yet.
00:10
Do you think I should... I'm not in a rush, Mr. Chair. No, go ahead and ask your question, sir.
00:15
Well, thank you, and congratulations to the nominees. You're both very qualified. I look
00:19
forward to supporting you. I want to begin, actually, just by putting some breaking news
00:23
on the record. This morning, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, tweeted as follows,
00:28
This morning, I proudly ended the Women, Peace, and Security program inside the Department of
00:33
Defense. WPS is yet another woke, divisive, social justice Biden initiative that overburdens our
00:39
commanders and troops, distracting from our core task warfighting. WPS is a United Nations program
00:46
pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it. Troops hate it.
00:51
DOD will hereby execute the minimum of WPS required by statute and fight to end the program for our
00:56
next budget. Good riddance, WPS, close quote. I wanted to read this because that tweet contains
01:04
some glaring inaccuracies that are far beneath the standard we should expect from a Department
01:10
of Defense. First, WPS is yet another woke, divisive, social justice Biden initiative.
01:17
WPS was passed by a unanimous vote in the Senate in October of 2017, when the Senate was majority
01:23
Republican and Donald Trump was president, and he signed it. Does our Secretary of Defense not know
01:29
the difference between a bill that was passed by the Biden administration and one that was passed and
01:34
signed in the Trump administration? Secondly, politicians fawn over it. Troops hate it. I return to the
01:42
hearing this committee had to consider the confirmation of General Cain, and I read the following testimony.
01:49
Senator Shaheen, General Cain, congratulations on your nomination. One of the things that we discussed
01:55
was the women, peace, and security legislation that was signed by President Trump during his first term,
02:01
and it mandates that women should be at the table in conflict resolution and peace negotiations.
02:07
And at DOD, that's meant having women involved in security cooperation programs that really give us,
02:13
I think, an advantage over our adversaries like China and Russia. Just for the record,
02:17
are you familiar with the WPS program General Cain? General Cain, I am, Senator. Yes. Senator Shaheen,
02:24
and do you believe that it's a DEI program? General Cain, I do not. Senator Shaheen, thank you. Can you
02:31
provide some examples of the operational advantage that from your perspective this gives us? General
02:37
Cain, well, Senator, I can just give you my own personal recollections from being deployed. Before this
02:43
was precursors of the program, but when we would go out into the field, and after concluding an assault,
02:48
we would have female members who would speak with those women and children who were on the objective,
02:53
and they would help us to understand the human terrain in new and novel ways. And so WPS is,
02:59
I think, a program that really helps us to understand the full spectrum of challenges that are in front of us.
03:07
Close quote from the testimony of our confirmed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If the
03:13
Secretary of Defense cannot understand the difference between a Biden admission, a Biden
03:19
initiative, and a Trump administration, and when the Secretary of Defense claims that troops hate
03:24
something that the newly confirmed head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appreciates, I got to add this to
03:31
the 1,000 questions about the judgment of this secretary that I've already raised. I'm stunned
03:41
at the lack of professionalism that this tweet demonstrates. Look, we aired out pretty carefully
03:47
at this hearing the secretary's own antipathy to women in service and his own track record of poor
03:53
treatment of women in leadership positions. The fact that he doesn't like WPS, that's one thing.
03:58
But the fact that he claims that it's a Biden initiative when it isn't, an initiative that
04:05
was supported unanimously by a Republican majority Senate, and that troops hate it when the newly
04:09
confirmed head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testifies to its value, I find shocking. Now I'll go to my
04:15
questions, if I could. And Admiral Papano, you were asked a question earlier about recruiting and hiring
04:21
within an NSA, and you point out that you weren't, you know, fully up to speed on the current. But I want
04:26
to go back. The GAO did a report in May 2024 that I imagine you probably are aware of, and it discussed
04:34
challenges that the NNSA faced in recruiting and retaining staff because of intense competition with
04:40
other industries and other agencies. This is a skill set that's in pretty high demand. So should you be
04:45
confirmed, how would you approach that challenge, making sure that we, you know, keep the good talent
04:51
we have and continue to attract new talent in an important place where there's a lot of competition
04:55
in the private sector and the public sector, too? Thank you for the question, Senator. Yes,
05:00
if confirmed, I will certainly advocate for the men and women of NNSA and the laboratories,
05:04
understanding that there's a unique skill set critical to national security everywhere from
05:09
skilled trades up to weapons designers and nuclear physicists. And so it is sometimes hard to find
05:15
those people, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to go attract, recruit,
05:20
train, retain those people as part of national security. And that could start everywhere from,
05:25
you know, looking at programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, you know,
05:30
K-12, up to colleges, what opportunities we have out there to go get people interested in that line
05:36
of work and develop them going forward.
05:38
I'm sure you probably have the tools you need to do that, but should you find that you don't,
05:44
please let the committee know if there are additional tools we can provide to help you
05:47
meet that mission. Thank you, Senator. You've confirmed that I look forward to working with
05:51
the committee if I need additional tools. I yield back having taken the 38 seconds that
05:55
Senator Warren undershot. The gentleman has nothing to yield back.
Recommended
5:39
|
Up next
‘Deterrence Only Works If It’s Public’: Tim Kaine Urges More Transparency In Offensive Cyber Domain
Forbes Breaking News
5/9/2025
5:19
Tim Kaine’: President Trump Is A Tyrant’ Here’s What We Can Do About It
Forbes Breaking News
6/9/2025
4:27
Tim Kaine Presses Trump Nominee On Status Of AUKUS Alliance And Indo-Pacific Security
Forbes Breaking News
5/13/2025
5:10
'An Attack To Shut Him Up': Kaine Blasts Trump Administration After Padilla Forcibly Removed From Briefing
Forbes Breaking News
6/13/2025
5:32
Tim Kaine Questions DoD Nominee About Plans To Counter Drone Incursions Amid Growing Concerns
Forbes Breaking News
5/13/2025
5:27
'You Wanted To Restore The Confederate Names': Kaine's Confronts Hegseth About Changing Base Names
Forbes Breaking News
6/18/2025
4:54
'You Are About To Commit A Grievous Error': Tim Kaine Issues Clear Warning To Qatar Over Gifted 747
Forbes Breaking News
5/19/2025
5:24
Tim Kaine Asks Pentagon Officials About 'Prioritizing' Construction Of Different Vessel Classes
Forbes Breaking News
4/15/2025
24:08
Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, Chuck Schumer Hold A Briefing On Forcing Trump Admin To Issue Report On Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Forbes Breaking News
5/1/2025
2:42
US election 2016: Tim Kaine and Mike Pence square off in VP debate
Al Jazeera English
10/5/2016
3:33
John Fetterman Reveals He Will Vote Against Tim Kaine's War Powers Resolution
Forbes Breaking News
5 days ago
6:06
Tim Walz Asked Point Blank If He Ever Discussed Biden 'Cognitive Decline' With Harris By Comer
Forbes Breaking News
6/12/2025
8:51
Tim Kaine Asks Marco Rubio If He Thinks Afrikaner Farmers Are The Most Persecuted Group In The World
Forbes Breaking News
5/20/2025
5:52
‘Give Me Any Evidence!’: Sen. Tim Kaine Spars With Trump CDC Nominee Susan Moranez Over Layoffs
Forbes Breaking News
6 days ago
4:18
'If Iran Is So Bad...': Tim Kaine Dares Pro-Iran Strike Senators To Introduce Authorization For War
Forbes Breaking News
yesterday
5:47
Patty Murray Confronts Pete Hegseth Over Firings Leading To Tense Exchange
Forbes Breaking News
6/11/2025
15:32
Tim Kaine Begins Senate War Powers Debate After Trump Said He'd Consider Bombing Iran Again
Forbes Breaking News
4 days ago
6:38
Chris Murphy Asks Pete Hegseth Point Blank If National Guard Should've Been Deployed On Jan. 6
Forbes Breaking News
6/11/2025
7:24
'I Hope You've Learned From These Episodes': Jack Reed Highlights Missteps By Secretary Pete Hegseth
Forbes Breaking News
6/18/2025
6:48
'Pure Political Theatre': John Barrasso Slams Dems' Bill To File Human Rights Report For El Salvador
Forbes Breaking News
5/13/2025
11:14
'We Cannot Allow Another Weekend At Biden's Presidency': Schmitt Demands Answers About Biden Era
Forbes Breaking News
6/24/2025
27:48
Tim Kaine Warns That US Is 'On The Verge Of A War With Iran,' Demands Congressional Approval
Forbes Breaking News
6/18/2025
5:20
Gary Peters Asks Pete Hegseth Straight-Up How He'll Show 'Accountability' If Signal Probe Finds Wrongdoing
Forbes Breaking News
6/18/2025
6:05
'When You Say The Left Lies About About Nearly Everything It Does...': Tim Kaine Brings Out Nom's Tweets
Forbes Breaking News
5/5/2025
6:27
'I'd Like Assurances': John Hoven Questions Sec. Pete Hegseth About Funding Sentinel Program
Forbes Breaking News
6/12/2025