Betty McCollum & Pete Hegseth Have Tense Exchange Over Trump Sending Troops To Los Angeles

Forbes Breaking News

At today's House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-VA) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Secretary, I plan to ask you some budget questions about the following, the cost of

00:04the Qatar plane, where the money from the Army's parade is coming from, or the National Guard

00:11deployments to the border, where that funding is coming from. I honor and celebrate the United

00:17States Army, but I'd like to know how much this parade is going to cost. I have sent the department

00:22letters on several occasions on this, and I'm still waiting for a response. But then something

00:28else happened this weekend, and it needs to be addressed, and that is the President's premature

00:32and escalatory decision to deploy not only the National Guard troops to Los Angeles, but

00:38active-duty Marines as well. Mr. Secretary, we're both from Minnesota. I was in the Twin Cities

00:43during the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd. Tens of thousands of protesters

00:48took to the streets for days. Governor Walz made the decision to call up the Minnesota National

00:54Guard. At no point did we need the citizens of Minnesota request that the Marines be deployed.

01:01Our state and local law enforcement, along with our National Guard, who have worked on crowd

01:07control, they were more than enough. They were more than capable of handling this situation.

01:13History has proven that law enforcement and the National Guard are more than capable of handling

01:18situations more volatile than what happened this weekend. We all see the continuous loops on TV,

01:25but this looks nothing like the George Floyd protests or the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles

01:31in 1992. Mr. Secretary, this is a deeply unfair position to put our Marines in. Their service should

01:38be honored. It should not be exploited. The President has issued an executive order and talked about

01:44deploying troops across the country. Los Angeles County has 17,000 law enforcement personnel and the

01:51state of California has 24,000 National Guard troops. So that's why the Los Angeles chief police to say,

01:59and I quote, the possible arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles is an absent a clear

02:06coordination presents a significant logistical operational challenge for those of us who are charged with

02:13safeguarding the city. The end of his quote. As I mentioned before, in Minnesota, we train for those things

02:18together. So there's no need for the Marines to be deployed. So here are my budget questions, though.

02:26What is the current cost for what is taking place in California, and how is it going to affect

02:35this budget, or the budget we're currently serving under? How much are these deployments going to cost

02:43for both the Marines and the National Guard? And what training or duties are not taking place because

02:51of these deployments? Where in your limited budget, sir, are you going to find in the remainder of this

02:59fiscal year, are you going to pull the money to cover these deployments? What holes are being created?

03:04Well, Congresswoman, thank you for the question. You are right. We are both originally from Minnesota,

03:12which is why I recall 2020 quite well, when Governor Walz abandoned a police precinct and allowed it to

03:19be burned to the ground, and also allowed five days of chaos to occur inside the streets of Minneapolis.

03:25The police precinct, ma'am, was abandoned and burned to the ground. And because of that,

03:34the National Guard was eventually far too late mobilized. And President Trump recognizes a

03:39situation like that, improperly handled by a governor like it was by Governor Walz, if it gets out of

03:45control, is a bad situation for the citizens of any location. So in Los Angeles, we believe that ICE,

03:52which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state

03:58and any jurisdiction in the country, especially after 21 million illegals have crossed our border

04:05under the previous administration. ICE ought be able to do its job, whether it's Minneapolis or Los

04:11Angeles. Mr. Chairman, I have limited time. I asked a budget question. Could the Secretary please address

04:15the budget? Thank you. You asked about the situation in Los Angeles, and we believe ICE agents should be

04:22allowed to be safe in doing their operations. And we have deployed National Guard and the Marines

04:26to protect them in the execution of their duties, because we ought be able to enforce immigration

04:32law in this country, unlike what Governor Walz did in 2020. There are 17,000 LAPD, you mentioned that.

04:40There would be 18,000, if not for the defund movement that folks like Gavin Newsom and Karen

04:46Bass have implemented. The police chief said she was overwhelmed.

04:50If the Secretary is not going to ask the budgetary questions, I will yield back my time if the Secretary

04:55refuses to answer the budgetary questions I've put before him. They're important. What training

05:00missions aren't happening? Where are you pulling the money from? And how are you planning this in the

05:05moving forward? These are budget questions that affect this committee and the decisions we're going

05:10to be making in a couple of hours. If you're not going to answer them, please let the chairman know,

05:15and I will take back my time, and I will yield it back to the chairman. Mr. Secretary, I want to just

05:20let us know what accounts you're pulling the money to fund. Thankfully, unlike the previous

05:24administration, we've got a 13 percent increase in our defense budget, and we will have the

05:28capabilities to cover down on contingencies, which is something the National Guard and the Marine

05:32plan for. So we have the funding to cover down on contingencies, especially ones as important

05:37as maintaining law and order in a major American city. As far as training, all of the units on the

05:42ground have been fully trained in their capabilities of what they're executing on the ground.

05:46Chairman, I ask for budgetary. If he needs to get back to the committee with the numbers, I'd appreciate it

05:50both current and present. I'm happy to submit them for the record.

05:53The gentleman will receive an answer to the question.

Category

Transcript

Recommended