Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request Hearing for the United States Air Force and Space Force

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Defense Subcommittee’s hearing on the fiscal year 2025 budget request for the United States Air Force and Space Force:

Thank you, Chairman Calvert and Ranking Member McCollum, for holding this hearing on the 2025 budget for the United States Air Force and Space Force.

And thank you to today’s witnesses, Secretary Kendall and Generals Allvin and Saltzman, for appearing before the subcommittee today, and for your dedicated service to our nation. You keep our nation safe, you keep our Airmen and -women and Guardians safe, and you ensure our allies are supported wherever democracy and freedom are threatened around the globe.

Through the fiscal year 2025 budget, Congress has the sacred duty to ensure the Air Force and Space Force have the resources to fulfill its mission, to keep our country secure, and ensure our servicemembers are protected and well-equipped.

The President’s 2025 budget supports our brave Airmen and -women, Guardians, and their families with a 4.5 percent pay raise, and furthers initiatives to improve access to health care and childcare while addressing housing and subsistence needs. This is the full compensation package that our servicemembers deserve, and we need to deliver on all those components.

In the President’s request, the Space Force budget is relatively flat following a large growth year in 2024. Meanwhile the Air Force has requested roughly $3 billion more than last year.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that the Combat Rescue Helicopter is not included in the request. This helicopter is still flying a critical mission, and Congress supported this mission in the final 2024 bill by ordering an additional 10 helicopters to maintain production. I will continue to support this program and hope to hear more about the Air Force’s plans for maintaining a strong combat rescue capability.

I am also interested to hear today about how the Forces plan to balance their modernization efforts with management of existing programs.

Additionally, I want to hear about how the Air Force and Space Force are addressing recruitment issues. Regrettably, the majority chose to inject culture war debates into last year’s Department of Defense funding process, and I am concerned with how that may further hurt recruitment efforts, especially among women.

We must do all we can to ensure that any American who wants to bravely serve in the U.S. armed forces and defend our nation feels that they belong and that they are not going to be drawn into political warfare while confronting legitimate threats to freedom, democracy, and our national security.

Thank you, and I yield back.