We remain in a campaign to defeat isis where u. S. Troops are helping to destroy isis and reclaim mosul and raqqah. Meanwhile threats around the world continue to grow more complex and severe. North korea is closing in on the development of a Nuclear CapableIntercontinental Ballistic Missile that can target our homeland and iran continues to destabilize the middle east and seek to drive the United States out of the region. At the same time, weave entered add new era of power competition. Russia and china, despite their many differences, are both modernizing their military it is, developing advanced capabilities to undermine our ability to project power globally. Russia continues to occupy crimea, destabilize ukraine, threaten our nato allies, falls to the murderous regime. And pursue a campaign of active measures to undermine the integrity of western democracies. Thousands of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines deployed in harms way around the globe, those of us charged with the awesome responsibility of providing for the common defense must ask ourselves, if we are doing Everything Possible to support our brave men and women in uniform to meet the challenges of an increasingly dangerous world and conduct ssu their mission. Im sad to say we are not. In response to rising threats we have asked our military to do more and give more but have given less and less to them. Our witnesses Opening Statements are a harsh indictment to this failure but they are right. I implore my colleagues to listen carefully to their testimony and heed theired admonition to us. Spending caps mandated by the budget control act have led to a 23 cut to the Defense Budget. These reductions con pounded by growing fiscal uncertainty and continuing reside lugs have left our military with shrinking forces, depleted readiness and aging equipment. This has put the lives of the men and women in the uniform at greater risk as this committee has heard in testimony for years from our senior military officers. Administrations fiscal year 2018 budget request, if enacted could help to arrest the decline in our militarys readiness but ultimately and unfortunately, it falls short of the president s commitment to rebuild our military. The proposed Defense Budget of 603 billion is arbitrary and inadequate. Arbitrary because the top line was written into the budget control act six years ago, prior to the sequester cuts and inadequate because it represents just a 3 increase over president obamas defense plan. It is hardly surprising, then, that this committee has received lists of unfunded requirements from the military services totally over 31 billion, all of which, secretary mattis testified last night in the House Armed Services committee that he supports. Our military Service Leaders have testified to this committee that this budget would staunch the bleeding, but we owe our men and women in uniform more than that. Its been said that this budget request focuses on readiness and it is true that the requested funding would make the current force more ready for the next year. But ultimately readiness is more than training hours and time on the ranges. Real readiness requires sufficient capacity to enable our troops simultaneously to conduct operations, prepare for for deployment, rest and refit and focus on the challenges of tomorrow. This budget delivers no growth in capacity, which means that the joint force will continue to consume readiness as quickly as it is produced. These increases in capacity are reflected in each services unfunded requirements. True readiness is also modernization. Because we if mortgage future capable pay for present commitments we have achieved little especially at a time when our adversaries are moving at an alarming rate to remove americas technological advantage and calling into question our ability to produce power. This presents the old false choice between readiness and modernization. Fact is, 603 billion is simply not enough to pay for both priorities, which is why the services unfunded requirements are heavy on the procurement of new and additional capabilities that are desperately needed. All of this presents this committee and this congress with a significant choice. The administrations budget request is just that. A request. Ultimately, it is our independent responsibility to authorize and appropriate funding for our military at levels and in ways we believe to be sufficient to provide for the common defense. I believe that this budget request is a start but we can and must do better. This will not be possible, however, as long as the budget control act remains the law of the land. This Defense Budget request and the additional funding that our military needs is literally illegal under the budget control act. This law has done Severe Damage to our military. It has harmed the departments ability to plan an execute budgets effectively and efficiently. It has ground the budget processes to a halt. Worst of all there are four more years of bca caps to go. We cannot go on like this. Our men and women in uniform deserve better. Its time for congress to reinvest in our military, restore or ready new zealand capabilities, rebalance our joint force and renew americas military advantage. To do so , we must revise or repeal the budget control act. We must give our troops what they need to succeed today and in the future. Will the politics of this be difficult . Yes. But the question all of us here must answer is, how much longer will we send our sons and daughters in harms way unprepared before we get over our politics and do our jobs. Senator reed . Thank you. For holding this hearing and i want to welcome our distinguished witnesses this morning, thank you them for their service to the nation. I want to join with the chairman in paying tribute to the soldiers of the 101st who gave their lives and to their families. Theyre examples of thousands and thousands of americans who serve and the families at home who serve with them. The 2018 Trump Administration budget that seeks 564 billion in base funding. The budget control act, the bca of 2011 and the sequester is the law of the land. And this budget request exceeds the bcas defense spending cap by 52 billion. Rather than request an outright repeal, President Trump recommends off setting it with nondefense spending. But unless the bca is changed, the offset will seriously harm nondefense spending and fail to prevent across the board cuts reclaiming the 52 billion, leaving d. O. D. In a worse position. We have already held hearings this year where we have been urged to remove the bca caps and end sequestration. Like chairman mccain, i believe it is time to repeal the bca. Setting arbitrary values has not made our country safer. Nor do these caps which were set nearly six years ago accurately reflect what a investment we need to keep america competitive and strong. I am not opposed to increased military spending. Democrats have and will continue to support robust defense spending. But is it the duty of this committee to carefully review the Budget Proposal presented by the president to ensure that the funds are allocated properly so the fighting men and women have what they need to complete their mission and return home safely. Every member takes this duty seriously. I also believe it must reflect our core values. And take care of americans who remain at home. Our military personnel have a vision of the america they are fighting for and it is our duty to protect that. I have grave concerns about the budget request because it robs from peter to pay paul. It increases defense spending but eliminates 17. 3 billion to the efforts to prevent wars which is the very kind of spending that is so crucial to our military efforts. It slashes funding for health, like the nih and cdc and the fight against Global PublicHealth Epidemics before they reach the u. S. This budget request also eliminates programs that help vulnerable americans here at home. Certainly our military needs Additional Resources to climb out of the readiness hole it is in. But i do not believe we should do so at the expense of diplomacy and vulnerable americans. I would also note over the last 15 years we have found it important enough to send our brave young men and women to war but we have not paid for these wars as this nation has historically done. As we look at what funding is required, the bca between defense and nondefense spending has pitted each category of funding against the other. Instead well be better served if we can the needs of the nation holistically. I also believe it would be best if we examine the request in the context of the Overall National security strategy. Such a strategy has not clearly emerged as we enter the sixth month of this administration. We seem to careen from one policy crisis to another, many of which are the administrations own making. This takes up valuable energy and attention when there are several significant challenges on which we need to be focused. Secretary mattis and general humphries you have been consummate professionals and a steady hand in tumultuous times. But we face many difficult decisions strategic and budget air that demand the kind of leadership and engagement only a grounded and focused president can provide. I look forward to working with you and my colleagues as we address these important issues and proud that this committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion during this process. I look forward to working with all the committee members. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. Secretary mattis, welcome back. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to testify in support of the president s budget request for fiscal year 2018. Mr. Chairman i request the committee accept my written statement for the record. Im joined by chairman the departments new comptroller, david norquist. This holds me accountable to the men and women of the department of defense. Every day more than two million Service Members and one million civilians do their duties. Honoring previous general rags of veterans and Civil Servants who have sacrificed for our country and i serve alongside them. We are keenly aware of the sacrifices made by americans to fund our military. Many times in the past we have looked reality in the eye, met challenges with the help of congressional leadership and built the most capable war fighting force in the world. There is no room for complacency and we have no godgiven right to victory on the battlefield. Each generation of americans from the halls of congress to the battlefield earns victory through commitment and sacrifice. And yet, for four years the department of defense has been subjected to or threatened by automatic across the board cuts as a result of sequester, a mechanism meant to be so injurious to the military it would never go effect but it did go into effect and as forecast by this secretary of defense panetta the damage has been severe. In addition, during nine of the last ten years, congress has had enacted 30 separate continuing resolutions to fund the department of defense thus inhibiting our readiness and adaptation to new challenges. We need bipartisan support for this budget request. In the past, by failing to pass a budget on time or to eliminate the threat of sequestration. Congress sidelined itself from its active constitutional oversight role. Continuing resolutions coupled with sequestration blocked new programs, prevented service growth, stalled Industry Initiative and placed troops at greater risks. Despite the tremendous efforts of this committee, congress as a whole has met the present challenge with lass lassitude, not leadership. I refired from military Service Three months after sequestration took effect. Four years later i returned to the department and ive been shocked an what ive seen about our readiness to fight. While nothing can compare to the heartache caused by the loose loss of our troops in these wars, nobody in the field has done more to harm them as sequestration. Our troops have shouldered a much greater burden but our troops stoic commitment cannot reduce the growing risk. It took us years to get into this situation. It will require years of stable budgets and increased funding to get out of it. I urge members of this committee and congress to achieve three goals. First, fully fund our request. Which required an increase to the Defense Budget caps. Second pass the fiscal 2018 budget in a timely manner to avoid yet another harmful and third eliminate the threat of future sequestration. Stable budgets and increased funding are necessary because of four external factors acting on the department at the same time. The first force acting on us that we must recognize is 16 years of war. When Congress Approved the all volunteer force in 1973, our country never envisioned sending our military to war for more than a decade without pause or conscription. Americans long war has placed a heavy burden on men and women in uniform an their families. A second force working on the department is the worsening Global Security situation the chairman has spoke about. We must look reality in the eye. Russia and china are seeking veto power on the diplomatic and security decisions on their periphery. Their actions continue. While iran remains the largest long term challenge to mideast stability. All the while, terrorists murder the innocent and threaten peace in many regions while targeting us. Third force is adversaries actively contesting americas capabilities. For decades the United States unjoyed uncontested or dominant superiority in every operating domain or realm. We could deploy our forces when we wanted and operate how we wanted. Today every operating domain, outer space, air, sea, undersea, land, and cyberspace, is contested. A fourth concurrent force is rapid technological change. Technological change is one that necessitates new investment, innovated approaches and new Program Starts that have been denied us by law when we have been forced to operate under continuing resolutions. Each of these four forces, 16 years of war, the worsening security environment, contested operations in multiple domains and the rapid pace of technological change requires stable budgets and increased funding to provide for the protection of our citizens and for the survival of our freedoms. I reiterate that security and solvency are the watch words. As secretary of defense. The fundamental responsibility of our government is to defend the American People, providing for our security and we cannot defend america and help others if our nation is not both strong and solvent. So we in the department of defense owe it to the American Public to ensure we spend each dollar wisely. President trump has nominated for Senate Approval specific individuals who will bring proven skills to discipline our departments fiscal processes to ensure we do so. This first step to restoring readiness is underway thanks to congresss willingness to support the administrations request for an additional 21 billion in resources for fiscal year 2017 to address vital war fighting readiness short falls. Your support put more aircraft in the air, troops in the sea and troops in the field. We all recognize it will take a number of years of higher funding delivered on time to restore readiness. To strengthen the military President Trump requested a 639 billion top line for the fy 2018 Defense Budget. This years budget reflects five priorities. The First Priority is continuing to improve war fighter readiness begun in 2017. Filling in the holes from tradeoffs made during 16 years of war, nine years of continuing resolutions and budget control act caps. The second priority is increasing capacity and lethality while preparing for future investment. Our fiscal year 2018 budget request insures the nations Current Nuclear deterrent will be sustained and supports continuation of its muchneeded modernization process. The third priority is reforming how the department does business. Im devoted to gaining full value from every dollar that has been paid to defense thus earning the trust of congress and the American People. We have begun implementation of a range of reform and initiatives directed by the 2017 National Defense authorization track and we are on track to enter a full Financial Statement audit as required by statute. I urge congress to support the departments request for authority to conduct a 2021 base realignment and closure or background. I recognize the careful deliberation that members must exercise in considering this. But bract is one of the most successful efficiency programs that we have. A properly based closure effort will generate 2 billion or more annually and over a fiveyear period, that would be enough to buy 300 apache attack helicopters, 120 f18 Super Hornets or four virginiaclass submarines. The fourth priority in the budget request is keeping faith with Service Members and families. Talented people are the companys most valued asset. To ensure the military is the most capable war fighting force in the world. Investment in military compensation, blended retirement, the military Health System and family programs are essential to fielding the talent we need to sustain our competitive advantages on the battlefield. Our fifth priority is support for overseas contingency operations. The fiscal year 2018 budget request 64. 6 billion focussing on operations in afghanistan, iraq and syria. Increasing efforts to sustains natos defenses to deter aggression and global counterterrorism operations. Isis and other terroris