Ranking Member McCollum Statement at Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Defense

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee’s hearing on the fiscal year 2025 budget request for the Department of Defense:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Secretary, General Brown, and Under Secretary McCord thank you for testifying before us today.

General, welcome to your first appearance before the Committee as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

For Fiscal Year 2025, the President has proposed $832 billion within our subcommittee’s jurisdiction.

But it conforms to the enacted level included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which passed the House by a vote of 314-117.

We are lucky that this allowed for a $7 billion increase above the Fiscal Year 2024 enacted level, even though it is below the rate of inflation.

I voted for the Fiscal Responsibility Act, not because I agreed with the spending levels in the deal, but because we could not let the country default on its debts. 

Mr. Secretary, I know you and the Department have received criticism from Authorizers for the top line of this budget request.

I think that criticism is unfair, especially from authorizers who do not have the responsibility to allocate funding.

You did not impose the Fiscal Responsibility Act on the Department of Defense.

Congress did.

And I think those who voted for that law should remember that.

I hope Congress has learned a hard lesson that we should not hold the national debt limit hostage over arbitrary spending caps.

The Department and the Administration are conforming to what the law allows.

Asking the Department to ignore the law is not advisable.

I know that each of you and the Service Chiefs have made difficult choices this year to follow the law.

As I said last year, Congress must be better about making hard choices when it comes to the defense budget.

We need to continue to train and equip our service men and women, and to support them and their families here at home.

We must prioritize the modernization of our force and support investments which will support the future of modern combat.

And most of all, we need to meet the requirements included in the National Defense Strategy.

Every dollar allocated in your budget request represents an increased effort to defend our nation and deter threats.

As you know, we finally enacted the FY 24 bill on March 23rd – six months after it was supposed to be completed.  

This delay triggered multiple Continuing Resolutions, impeding your ability to start new programs.

None of this should have happened.

Turning to the security Supplemental.

The Senate passed it over two months ago.

It is deeply unfortunate that it has not been brought up in the House

for a vote.

Funding in that bill would provide much needed support to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and boost production of critical munitions here in the United States.

The supplemental will support our military and provide them the ammunition necessary to defend us here at home and support our allies abroad.

As evidenced by Iran’s actions this weekend, Israel will require more interceptors to defend itself from Iranian attacks. And last week, our Subcommittee was briefed by the U.S. European Commander on the prognosis for Ukraine without American support.

It was chilling.

Without United States assistance, Ukraine will literally run out of ammunition. 

For these reasons, the Supplemental must be enacted as soon as possible.

While the hearing today will cover a range of topics, I want to highlight a few that are important to me.

First, I am concerned about our nation’s ability to address emerging threats. 

Many of the major systems that we will rely on from each of the Services are delayed or require additional funds above their originally stated contracts. 

And, our industrial partners seem to be losing workers right after they have been trained – particularly in the shipbuilding industrial base.

This is extremely concerning to me.

The Department, Congress, and Industry must work together to ensure that there is consistency because these jobs and the people in them

are important to the security of the nation. 

Second, the Subcommittee has heard from the Army and the Navy about how they are addressing recruitment and retention issues. 

What do you think of the progress the Services have made on recruitment goals in the last year, and do you believe this will get us back on track in the near term?

Finally, given the focus on the Pacific, and the recent visit to Washington of the Japanese Prime Minister, I would like to hear your thoughts our relationship with Japan.  

How can the Department work with Japan to better utilize maintenance and repair facilities in Japanese territory to ensure our forces can execute their missions?

And what are some of the ways the Department has worked to strengthen our relationships with allies like the Philippines, Australia, and South Korea?

Again, thank you to our witnesses for appearing before us today.

We appreciate your testimony and answers to our questions.

With that, I yield back.