'What Authority?': Tammy Baldwin Demands Pete Hegseth Cite Constitutional Provision To Send Troops To L.A.

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth.

Transcript

00:00on a couple of lines of questioning. Just specifically, Mr. Secretary, what is the

00:06authority that the administration is using to deploy active duty Marines to

00:13California neighborhoods? What authority? Senator, the President has

00:18constitutional authority in order to support... Cite the provision of the

00:23Constitution. I'd have to pull up the specific provision, but our Office of

00:28General Counsel, alongside our leadership, has reviewed and ensured in the order

00:33that we set out, that it's completely constitutional for the

00:37President to use federal troops to defend federal law enforcement. Look, I'd like to

00:46know the specific constitutional statutory authority. The President made it

00:56clear that he relied on section 12406 of Title 10 with regard to the National

01:03Guard troops. I need to know the authority that he is relying upon in terms of

01:09active duty Marines being deployed to California neighborhoods. So you'll

01:14follow up with me? Yes, Senator, but there's plenty of precedent of active

01:19duty troops being used to support law enforcement. Historical precedent. I'm not

01:25disputing that. I am just asking you to cite the authority under which the active

01:30duty Marines are being deployed to California neighborhoods. It's in the order, ma'am, but

01:33we'll make sure we get it to you as well. Thank you. I want to dovetail on a couple of

01:40other comments also with regard to the lack of specific detail in the budget

01:46request for the Department of Defense. I take great pride in Wisconsin's

01:51contributions to our national defense and that includes many Wisconsinites who are

01:57hard at work building the Constellation class frigate. There is no mention of

02:03frigate procurement just like Senator Collins noted that there's no mention of

02:09destroyer procurement in the budget materials that you provided to this

02:14committee. My state makes the frigate. I'd also note that there's no mention of the

02:22destroyers as I said. So really we are looking at a very incomplete budget request

02:27when we are just four months out from the beginning of the next fiscal year. Mr.

02:33Secretary, this committee takes the appropriations process seriously. I take

02:38the hard work of Wisconsin's shipbuilders seriously and I'd like your

02:43commitment to provide this material to the committee expeditiously so we can do

02:48our work. Senator, we'll make sure you get all the information but I would what I

02:53would say is this is a historic investment in shipbuilding both the

02:56defense industrial base and ships in Wisconsin and particularly related to the

03:00frigate. It's been a it's been a program with a lot of problems and a lot of

03:05delays and a lot of modifications that have led to serious challenges. AB has called for

03:09many modifications to the plan. As I'm not saying that's it's the all the

03:15fault of the shipyard. There are many ways in which modifications were made that

03:19changed an existing design so extensively that it led to a ship that was not even

03:26capable of the original mission it was supposed to execute. So our job is to make

03:30tough choices on some platforms like that that may not be funded the

03:35way they were in the past because we have to make some of those tough choices.

03:38Well we don't have any of the detail right now of what your plans are with

03:44regard to the frigate or the destroyer and we need that information to do our

03:50jobs. Can you get it to me? We have that information Senator. We have worked in

03:55real time in four months to reverse a lot of priorities from the previous

03:59administration. We have those that those details and that information and we

04:03will get the committee needs those details. So this committee has also worked

04:08hard alongside the department to improve recruitment and meet retention goals. The

04:14department is planning to separate several thousand service members due to

04:19your partisan beliefs about troops who are transgender. Mr. Secretary I've seen your

04:25speeches and social media posts but what I'm interested in is the sound policy

04:31analysis that we would expect from the Secretary of Defense and how this

04:35misguided decision will impact military readiness. My colleagues and I have

04:41requested this information from you and we are still waiting to receive it and so I

04:45will ask you now what assessment did the Department of Defense conduct prior to

04:51implementation to evaluate the impact that this policy would have on our

04:57national security. Moreover what is the cost to recruit and train thousands of

05:02individuals of comparable experience and skill? Thankfully recruiting is not an

05:09issue it's at historically high levels and we're proud of the cross-section of

05:12Americans. What analysis did you do? We did extensive analysis Senator and we

05:17agree with the assessment of the executive order that was issued by the White

05:19House that there are mental health issues associated with gender dysphoria that

05:24complicate military service and readiness and as a result we made the decision. I

05:29have asked for that analysis please provide it to me and the committee. We will

05:36provide it. And then Mr. Secretary I think we can all agree that we are at a

05:41critical point in our history with respect to global threats that need to

05:46counter adversaries like China and Iran. You've gotten a number of questions along

05:51those lines and I'm disappointed that you are instead focusing on a class of ships

05:56named for civil rights leaders. You chose Pride Month to direct the Navy to

06:03rename a ship named for Navy veteran Harvey Milk. This committee will continue to

06:11pursue serious work in the interests of American national security and I ask you to

06:17choose to join us in that endeavor. Senator we're not interested in naming ships

06:23after activists. That's the stance we're taking. All right where we are due to the

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