Appropriations committee will please come to order. We are here today to discuss the u. S. China relationship and the investments that we need to keep our nations secure, competitive, strong, and maintain our leadership on the world stage. Let me make clear, from the outset, when we talk about competing against china, and countering chinese influence, we are talking about competing against its government, not the Chinese People or the millions of Chinese Americans who helped make our country great. I am great secretary austin, blinken, and raimondo here to discuss the all of government approach that we need to meet this challenge. This is our first full committee hearing, i do want to thank a vice chair collins, as well as our chairs and Ranking Members testers, coons, shaheen, tester, and moran. For working on us with this topic and others that every member cares about. I want to thank all of my colleagues with their work in the recent weeks to jumpstart the appropriation process. And hold more than 30 very substantive hearings on President Bidens budget requests and critical issues. We have made important progress. I hope that we can keep things on track and markup our bill soon. Vice chair collins and i had hoped that this thursday would be a first full committee markup. She and i are working very hard and will update all of our Committee Members on when we expect to have our first markup in the june work period. This week in the house they are getting ready to markup their own Appropriations Bills. It is my goal, and the goal of senator collings, to be marking up in a similar timeframe. But every member in this room knows that the senate must have its voice heard in this process. To that and this committee has received critical input from nearly all 100 senators to inform our work as we craft the spending bills to meet the nations needs. We owe it to our colleagues, our communities, and most of all, our constituents, to put forward this shared priority of the chamber in a slate of bipartisan spending bills. This hearing offers a valuable opportunity to go indepth on one of those shared priorities. Making the investment that our nation needs to stay ahead of the Chinese Government, and other competitors. Who are doing everything they can to try to overtake america economically, militarily, and on the world stage. As i have said throughout our subcommittee hearings, keeping our country safe and competitive is not just about defense spending. Keeping our country safe means investing in diplomacy and development. To counter political and economic coercion. To promote stability. To stand up to autocrats. To support our allies. And advance our Global Leadership, instead of ceding ground to the governments of china and russia. Keeping our Community Safe means funding to stop deadly fentanyl from crossing our borders. And dangerous cyberattacks that can decimate our infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and more. It means funding to ensure that our supply chains for drugs, food, baby formula, and more are safe, stable, and not dependent on the womens beijing, and others. When it comes to keeping our Competitive Edge on the world stage, that means investing in American Innovation with funding for r d. Advanced manufacturing like the chips and science act. Clean energy jobs. Cutting edge by medical research. Emergent Technology Like a. I. , and more. It means investing in our economy at every level. Supporting our farmers and small businesses. Maintaining our ports, railways, and other infrastructure that we need for trade. Strengthening and expanding our trade partnership so we can sell American Goods across the world. Protecting our intellectual property. Of course, we cannot be competitive with the Chinese Government if we are not investing in the backbone of our economy, our working families. We cannot compete without investing in high quality Public Schools for our kids. We cannot compete without investing in Higher Education and workforce programs that help Key Industries find the workers that they need. We are extending the effort to rebuild American Manufacturing and so many others of our economy, if we refuse to tackle the childcare crisis keeping parents out of the workforce. Not only on these issues as important of our defense investments, they are connected. Make no mistake. China is pressing forward with an aggressive modernization and expansion of their military capability. As such there are certain investments that we, absolutely, must make. To strengthen our own defensive and deterrence capabilities. The president s budget request the largest ever amount of funding for the pacific deterrents initiative. That is critical. We need to ensure the military has the resources it needs to stay ahead of chinas military modernization. Strengthen logistical preparedness. Expand cyber capabilities, and more. However, as the secretary defense has said repeatedly, keeping our nation safe requires the whole of government approach. After all, our weapons need ships. Making them ourselves. Working with likeminded partners to secure our supply chains is a matter of National Security. This is key. We need to make sure that we have a regular appropriations process so every department, including d. O. D. , can plan for the year ahead. We cannot settle for crs that frees our progress result in year over year funding progress. And seriously impair every single one of our agencies abilities to fulfill their mission and move our country forward. The Chinese Communist party does not governed by crs. They do not governed by cuts. We cant either. Which is why it has been so important to me, senator collins, and many others to make sure that we meet this moment. Do our jobs. Get our bipartisan funding bills passed in a timely way. Im glad to see that we have bipartisan agreement on the problem that we are here to discuss today. Keeping ahead of the Chinese Government and our competitors. Based on our past bipartisan efforts, i think that we do have a shared understanding that the solution here must be an all of government approach. Just a few months ago we passed an appropriations bill for this fiscal year that showed congress can take this challenge seriously. Senators shaheen and moran Work Together to increase funding for the National Science foundation and funded detects hub program. Filling out our bipartisan science funding act to invest in r d, innovation, in building a strong s. T. E. M. Workforce. Senator coons and graham advanced u. S. Global leadership by growing our diplomatic footprint, especially in the indopacific. Increasing funding for the indopacific strategy. Providing funding and flexibility for agencies like state, usaid. The Development Finance corporation to address emerging strategic priorities. Senators murphy and capito made critical funding increases to improve detection and seizure of narcotics, like fentanyl, and related elicit contraband. And to dismantle and disrupt transnational criminal organizations. Senator feinstein and kennedy worked together to increase funding for the office of science and the department of energy. And fund our National Labs so we could develop Clean Energy Solutions and improve advanced manufacturing. Our funding bill, and the bipartisan infrastructure law also included critical investments to support Infrastructure Improvements to ensure our ports can ship goods around the world. I think it is safe to say we showed, just a few months ago, that there is bipartisan support for an across the board effort to counter the growing influence of chinas communist party. If we want to stay competitive. If we want to stay ahead, we have to stay the course. Build on those investments. Which is why i found the approach House Republicans have called for dangerous. Suggesting massive funding cuts across the government at a pivotal moment. After years of bipartisan consensus for maintaining americas Global Leadership, that tactic will throw in the towel to our competitors. It will give the Chinese Government our spot as the global superpower of the 21st century. Lets be clear, House Republicans arent just proposing one year of cuts to r d, diplomacy, and workforce programs. Essentially everything that keeps us competitive. They are demanding spending caps that will tie our hands and lock in even more cuts over the next decade. I worry that what is being proposed will lead to a lost decade for america at a moment where we cannot afford it. Lets be clear, china is not debating whether to pay its debts, or records economy. China is not debating whether to invest in its future, or cut and cap the investments that keep it competitive. China does not operate on crs. The more we play with the fall and punt investments and teeter on the Anti Government shutdowns, the more we prove china and our competitors are right. Helping them show the world that it is their moment to overshadow our leadership. Helping them demonstrate their core belief that totalitarianism is stronger than Democratic Values here at home, and across the world. That is why it is so critical for the senate to make its voice heard on americas future. We have to show that there is a bipartisan vision to strengthen our nations competitiveness and security by investing in American Leadership across the board. And a bipartisan will to get it done. That is why we have been focused in all of our subcommittee hearings. It is what i have to hear about from our witnesses today. That is why i want all of us to continue their work and markup bipartisan spending bill soon. The bottom line is we find ourselves today at a real turning point. This years Government Spending bills will determine whether or not we are prepared to compete with china. And whether or not we will stay had or fall behind. We cannot close our eyes or plug our ears when it comes to the threat that the Chinese Government poses. We have got to build on the progress we have made. Keep our country safe and competitive and invest in americas future. As we decide what investments we do or do not make, the stakes cannot be higher. They could not be more serious. I want to thank everyone who is here today. Thank our witnesses. We look forward to hearing your testimony today. I will turn it over to vice chair college for her opening statement. Chair murray, thank you so much for holding this important hearing. Before i turn to my formal remarks, let me echo the chairs determination to keep proceeding with the appropriations process in a way that will avoid a late end of the year gigantic continuing resolution that continues to Fund Programs that do not need funding. The province new programs from starting. It makes it impossible for agencies to plan. It also ends up costing the taxpayer more money. I share the chairs determination to keep proceeding. I look forward to beginning subcommittee markups in june. I would note that we have gotten off to a very fast start. Our subcommittees, on both sides of the aisle, have worked together to have a series of hearings that literally have held dozens of hearing on the president s budget requests. That is an essential start for this process. To our witnesses, i want to tell you that i am very much looking forward to your testimony on how we can Work Together to strengthen u. S. Security and competitiveness regarding china. Americas competition with china is an increasing challenge. But it is not a new one. Overlaying chinas modern economic successes with its 3500 years of history and today the world faces and authoritarian government that seeks to regain its hegemonic past and dismantle the International Order created by the United States, and our allies, following world war ii. To be clear, chinas vision is to be the worlds military and economic powerhouse. It is well on its way. Today, china has the Worlds Largest navy. The Worlds Largest army. And the Worlds Largest economy by purchasing power parity. Competition with china occurs in every domain. From the united nations, cyberspace, to africa. Our focus, with regard to our military competition with china, must remain on deterrence. Which is defined by the strength of our readiness, capacity, and capabilities. That of our allies and partners. We must ask ourselves if the pentagon, and taiwan, have the weapons, munitions, and man power necessary to credibly deterred china from using force to accomplish its objectives. As secretary austin knows from our hearing last week, i believe that the administration could do better in this regard. Secretary blinkens challenge is getting our bilateral diplomatic relations with china on a stable footing as possible. Given the inconsistent statements by the president on u. S. Policy towards taiwan, it would also be helpful if the secretary were to clarify today if there has been any change in the one china policy and the strategic ambiguity there in. America is only a strong abroad as we are at home. Including the innovation and technology we can protect. I hope today that secretary raimondo will give us an update on efforts to prevent the theft of intellectual property. To bolster u. S. Leadership in advanced technologies. And to impede china from exploiting American Technologies to advance its military interest. Finally, as one department of Homeland Security official recently testified, the fentanyl crisis begins and ends in china. Many precursor chemicals originate in china. Chinese criminal organizations launder the drug cartels money and source the pill pressers that facilitate the distribution of this deadly poison. Just last month, employees at a restaurant in auburn, maine, opened a crate expecting to find mugs that they had ordered. Instead, they found 14 kilograms of fentanyl. That is enough to kill five times the population of the entire state of maine. Thankfully the employees called local Law Enforcement who sees the fentanyl, undoubtedly saving many lives. Addressing the fentanyl crisis must be at the top of this administrations agenda with china. Again, i look forward to discussing these significant issues with our witnesses this afternoon. Thank you. Thank you vice chair collins. I will now briefly introduce todays witnesses in with testimony. I am very pleased again to welcome secretary of defense, lloyd. Often secretary of state, anthony blinken. Secretary of commerce gina raimondo. I am thankful to all three of our witnesses for the work to do every day to keep our Community Safe and to help us stay competitive. I would like to thank each one of you for taking the time today to be with us and to answer our questions. We will now move to opening remarks. Secretary austin, i will begin with you. Chair murray, vice chair collins, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify about americas strategic competition with the peoples republic of china. Im glad to be joined by secretary blinken and secretary raimondo. We rely on each other every day. To compete and succeed, we must use all of the tools of american power. Im grateful to congress for recognizing the urgency of the china challenge. Taking bipartisan action to meet it i would like to underscore five key points today about how the department of defense is tackling the security challenge of the prc, in lockstep with our partners across the administration, around the world, and here in congress. First we are focusing the entire department on continuing to outpace the prc. As the president S National Security strategy notes, the prc is our only competitor with both the intent. And increasingly, the capacity to reshape the International System to suit its autocratic preferences. Beijing has increased its bullying and provocations in the end of pacific. It has embarked upon and historic military buildup, including space and cyberspace. Of course, war is neither imminent nor inevitable. But we must face up to the prc growing a third of net. The departments mission is clear. To deter aggression that threatens our Vital National interests. We are investing more than ever in a formidable, innovative, fighting force. And a more resilient force posture in the indopacific. Our budget includes a 40 increase over last years request for the Pacific Deterrent Initiative to an alltime high of 9. 1 billion dollars. We are delivering critical capabilities through more agile approaches to testing an acquisition. We are developing novel operational concepts for how we employ the joint force. Our National Defense strategy calls the prc our pacing challenge. We chose the world challenge carefully. The United States does not seek conflict, a challenge, or a new cold war. But we have never shied away from competition. We are working with both our rivals and our friends to strengthen the guardrails against china. To unveil in strategic competi