00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and let me start by thanking you for framing what is at stake and for your emphasis on Ukraine.
00:12I also agree with Vice Chair Coons that the department has been unacceptably slow in providing us with the account-level information that we need to draft the Defense Appropriations Bill.
00:30I agree with him that a CR is not conducive to the smooth and effective operations of the department, but I would respectfully point out to my colleague that the Appropriations Committee reported the Defense Appropriations Bill before the August recess, and it was the Democratic leader who decided not to bring the bill to the floor.
00:59And that is why we ended up with a continuing resolution.
01:05Mr. Secretary, let me turn to you now.
01:09You recently stated that DOD is focused on the strategic threat posed by China and that this threat is, and these are your words, real and could be imminent.
01:24And I agree with you.
01:25China now fields a Navy of approximately 400 ships and is expanding its fleet at a pace that far exceeds ours.
01:38The U.S. Navy currently has only 293 ships, clearly inadequate.
01:45Yet the Department of Defense budget for FY26 proposes funding for only three additional ships, a Columbia-class submarine, a Virginia-class submarine, and an ocean surveillance ship.
02:01No funding in the base budget is requested for DDG-51, the Navy's workhorse surface combatant.
02:12Instead, the Administration unwisely is relying on reconciliation to fund a second Virginia-class submarine and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
02:26Reconciliation, Mr. Secretary, was meant to provide one-time supplemental funds to augment the defense budget, not to supplant the investments that should be in the base budget.
02:44Could you explain the Department's rationale for excluding these critical war-fighting platforms from the annual appropriations request and creating instability for future defense budgets?
03:01Well, Senator, I appreciate the question.
03:05There are a lot of complexities that go into how budgets are formed.
03:09From the view of our department, working on Capitol Hill and with the White House, is that we have two bills and one budget.
03:16So when I look at the threats that we face in the Indo-Pacific, that is precisely, precisely as we've worked with the chairman and the joint staff and across OSD and all the COCOMs, that has precisely been the compass by which we have judged the capabilities that we need.
03:34When you look at the totality of the $961 billion, or $1 trillion total over national security, that's 19 new ships.
03:41It's a historic investment in shipbuilding.
03:43It's over $6 billion in the shipbuilding defense industrial base.
03:51It's all focused in ways the previous administration talked a lot about, but we are actually making the tough choices to invest in.
03:58I understand the dynamics of base bill versus reconciliation, and I concede that, ma'am.
04:03But ultimately, we're looking at it as one investment for FY26, and we think, with a 13% increase over last year, that it's a historic investment.
04:13Well, I would point out that the budget overall actually provides less buying power than the FY25 enacted budget,
04:25because it does not adjust for inflation, and I hope that's something that we can work together on to correct.
04:34Let me turn to another issue.
04:38The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, overhauls the Navy's long submarines, nuclear submarines.
04:47Senator Shaheen and I helped to secure an exemption from the hiring freeze for the shipyard, and that is absolutely essential.
05:00But if I could speak for Senator Shaheen as well as myself.
05:05Both of us are hearing from shipyard leaders, as well as the Navy, as well as the rank-and-file workers, the union leadership,
05:17that the delays in hiring and onboarding across the workforce from frontline mechanics to security personnel continue.
05:28Could you speak to what is causing this delay since the exemption from the hiring freeze was granted months ago?
05:39Well, it's a great point, Senator.
05:41I will have our team dive into that, because that should not be the case.
05:45It was very specifically exempted because of the importance of those shipyards,
05:49and whatever we can do to speed it up for you, we will do.
05:52Thank you, Senator Collins, Senator Murray, and then Senator Graham.
