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President bidens 2024 budget request before a Senate Appropriations committee. They outlined their focus on people, readiness and modernization and discussed investments with joint forces in the indo pacific region. Testified on president bidens 2024 budget request before a Senate Appropriations committee. They outlined focused on people, readiness, and modernization. 300 million below last years but 11 billion more than the year before that. Worldwide challenges threads constantly evolving. The armies the future is to transfer the army into the army of 2030. This transformation includes organizational forces in the development of equipment and new concepts to defeat our adversaries. We can best help the army on its path through the timely enactment of the defense appropriations bill for fy 24. Appropriations provide to allow the army to execute and operate execute plans appropriately. Let me put it this way. In order for the army to be all it can be, we Congress Must do our jobs. I look forward to working with senators murray and collins and for putting us in a position of success and getting this passed on time. The army biggest militaradvantat these are difficult times. We look forward to hearing more about how youre recruiting challenges. Given the need to modernize in light of a never a vaulting threat, we also look forward to an update about the pace of modernization. You all have my full support to develop and field modernization and modernize. But im growing increasingly worried about repeated proposals by the army to break hot production lines and destabilize the Industrial Base. I want to thank you for your service to the country. Senator collins is not here. She has Health Education labor and Pensions Committee markup this morning. She may arrive later, but before we get to your Opening Statements i have one quick statement and then i want to turn it over to the knitter moran. We heard yesterday that the moments in time we default on our debt is coming up one month, june 1. I talked about getting a budget out on time. I do not know what the people in the senate house are thinking. The truth is, the deficit needs to be dealt with in a commonsense way. What the house has done last week is not a commonsense way and makes us a weaker country. If we continue down this line, im very concerned about funding for the military, funding for homeland security, funding for every agency that we have within the government and so hopefully, hopefully common sense will prevail here and we will be able to continue on the path to getting a budget out by the end of september so that you guys have do not waste taxpayer dollars. With that, i will turn it over to senator moran. I would add my support for all of our efforts in this committee to make sure we get our appropriations process completed, done on time and that we avoid, my Opening Statement i will to take a second to recognize the three Army Aviators who lost their lives in a training accident over the weekend in alaska. Another reminder of the sacrifices servicemembers and their families make every day whether they are deployed or at home. Thank you both for your service to our nation and for being here to this here today to discuss the United States armys budget request. General, its my understanding that this will be your last Posture Hearing. While that saddens me, it may be a pleasurable thought for you. This is your last Posture Hearing as a chief of staff for the army. I would like to especially thank you your decades of service in uniform to the defense of our nation. Im grateful for the relationship, the friendship that weve had, the conversations that you are willing to engage with me, and im especially grateful for your relationship for your support and for leavenworth last summer. Kansas communities are engaged with support of the soldiers and their families who call these post home. Secretary warmups, i look forward to hosting you and kansas in the near future to showcase the capabilities of the kansas military post and the support of our Army Soldiers. The United States is in the midst of one of the most challenging National Security situations of my lifetime and the army is critical to the support of the security of our nation. Army is critical to the future of our country. This administrations army budget request for fy 2024 does not adequately address these concerns. As a mean assuming the best inflation estimates, the armies fy 2024 request represent a real growth rate of a negative 2. 4 as cochair of the Senate Army Caucus and a member of the subcommittee, it is my priority that the army have the resources necessary to fill the National Security applications. We continue to hear of the ongoing recruiting crisis within the army. The force will look different from just two years ago, roughly 35,000 below its fy 2022 authorized and strength of 485,000 soldiers. Congress should be informed of all the alternatives as army considers options to manage the significant reduction. Lets work with you. Lets Work Together to find satisfactory solutions and help the army in its recruitment efforts. We need to overcome this deficit of soldiers. No one in this room wants to see the army return to a tiered readiness model. I believe the retention of our meat force structure is critical. While infrastructure reductions may be a quick fix solution, it will set the army back at a time when the need for a ready army is as essential as ever. Army Senior Leadership should Keep Congress aware of any changes under consideration. I want to be your ally. Not your critic. The russian invasion of ukraine has highlighted deficiencies in the u. S. Industrial base, particularly its ability to produce an adequate munition stock and supply americans and kansas workers stand ready to support the u. S. War fighter. I support there were the armys recent investments into the Munitions Industrial base. Are easily had a chance to visit the former Kansas Army Ammunition plant which will have a vital role now we now we engaging in supporting the increase munition production needs. I also want to applaud the armys recent election of the v2 80 to be the armys future longrange assault aircraft. I will continue to use my position on this committee to help support the modernization of them Army Aviation fleet to keep pace with our challenges. Army is the backbone of the joint force of the United States if the United States is in conflict. Our army answers the call. While air and marine superiority are essential, this is only possible with thes presence. The u. S. Ability to project power, to hold critical ground relies upon the armys ability to compete in the pacific theater. I highlight just at least from my own perspective that our country faces real and serious challenges. We need to do the things necessary to make sure we counter those circumstances. The army has a significant role. This congress has a significant role in supporting that effort. I look forward to your testimony and your responses to the questions. Thank you both. Thank you. You have the floor. Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to build the army of 2030 and thank you in particular for your condolences for our Army Aviators. It has been a difficult several weeks for our Aviation Community and as soon as we got the word about the incident in alaska, i asked the chief to look into making sure that we were going to do a stand down to make sure that we understand exactly whats going on and you can make sure that our aviators share Lessons Learned from these recent incidents. We are very pleased to appear for you to appear before you today. This is indeed his last hearing and it has been a pleasure to do three cycles of budget hearings. So congratulations. We have accomplished a lot, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We remain focused on our three priorities. The fy 24 budget enables us to support the National Defense strategy, provide ready forces and take care of our people. By investing over 39 billion in procurement, we are maintaining our mormon momentum and are largely on track to bring 24 systems across the finish line 2023. This is a big year. Prototypes of the precision strike, the mid capability and hypersonic weapon will be in the hands of soldiers in the fiscal year. It is also a big year for combat vehicles. Firepower is in production and the field is being as we shift from two decades to large state largescale combat operations, we are transforming our structure. We are going to need to adapt our structure to make room for things like the Multidomain Taskforces as well as other units and our battalions. We are a ready army and we continue to emphasize readiness and everything we do. We are funding 22 combat Training Center rotations. We have a robust exercise program and we are implementing our new model which helps us. We are also investing in preposition stocks which have served us very well in europe and will continue to serve us well in other theaters. To assist ukraine infighting pressure, the army has provided Legal Assistance including a wide range wide range of radars and combat vehicles to name a few items. One of the lessons weve learned is the need for a mo brooks more robust defense base. We have 1. 5 billion to invest. We are working very closely with our defense partners and industry to increase production so that we can continue to help the ukrainians that also very importantly to replenish our own stocks. Even as our soldiers provide Legal Assistance and training the ukrainian forces, we have not taken our eye off the challenge in china. Indo pay, may be a theater named after two oceans come about the army does have a number in part to play. The best way to avoid fighting a war is to show that you can win any war you might have to fight. The army is contributing to strengthening every day as a campaign in the region through our exercises and partnerships. If deterrence fails, the army will be a key player if there is a conflict. As important as it is to build new weapon systems, people are the strength of our army. This budget includes a 5. 2 pay raise and important quality of life improvements like housing, childcare initiatives and new and renovated derricks. We want to build cohesive teams of soldiers so the army is committed to positive command climb across the board where our soldiers can be all they can be. We are also continuing to strive to prevent suicide in our ranks. Suicide is a national challenge, but we have to do everything we can to reduce suicide in the army. We are pursuing a range of initiatives to help our soldiers be more resilient. One of the most important things we can do is make sure that we have engaged leaders at every level, who knows their soldiers and make sure that the soldiers are connected to their leaders, to their buddies and to their families. Our army is the greatest army in the world, but the keep it that way we have to resolve our recruiting challenge. The difficult recruiting landscape he faced did not happen in a year and its going to take us more than a year to turn this around. We are laser focused on this challenge and we are not going to lower our standards to solve the problem. We are Generating Positive moments like our future soldier prep course, Soldier Referral Program and our new Advertising Campaign be all you can be. Our efforts are geared toward one thing, introducing the army to the American Public and inspiring a renewed call to service. We very much need your help to be successful in that effort. Im proud of everything our soldiers do to protect our country and look forward to your questions this morning. Thank you madam secretary. Thank you for your leadership. The state was members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. And for your continued support. We appreciate your condolences and certainly our condolences go out to the family of the fallen in alaska. The army exist for one purpose and that is to protect the nation by being ready and fighting our nations wars as a member of the joint force. To do this, the army has set three layer priorities. People, readiness and modernization or in other words, future readiness. We remain committed to these priorities while answering the nations call during every crisis in every challenge. This year, the army undergoes its greatest transformation and almost 50 years. We are delivering on modernization because we been consistent and persistent on a modernization priorities. Last year we officially updated our doctrine which incorporates lessons from ukraine. We continue to stand up to organizations support our new doctor. Last june, we reactivated historic 11th Airborne Division in alaska. September, a third of our taskforces as secretaries noted, we are on track 24 signature weapon systems. At the end of the day, we must get the right people in the right place an order for any of these initiatives to be successful. This is why people remain in the army people remain the armys number one priority. Service in the army is a pathway to success both in and out of uniform. Whether you serve for four years or over 40 years, the army offers endless possibilities. We are not only the profession of arms, but we are a profession of professions. You can be whatever you want to be in the 90 states army. In fact, you can be all you can be. Inspire young men and women to serve because we get the call, we go with the army we have. Army we have is the worlds greatest fighting force because we serve with the worlds greatest soldiers. With your continued support, we are going to keep it that way. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you for your testimony. Last week, three soldiers were tragically killed when their helicopters collided in alaska. I also pointed out, another fatal helicopter accident in kentucky february 2. Two soldiers lost their lives in a Training Mission in alabama. General, you issued a standdown order and directed additional safety training. Would you please give us an update on what you will be reviewing specifically . Thank you and last year, we are only as good as our last flight. As you mentioned, weve had two tragic flights in the last month and as a result, the secretary and i directed a safety stand down. Thats an opportunity for all of our aviation commanders and senior commanders to bring their aviators together to take a look at the procedures that they use and take a look at the crew mixed to understand the type of training they are doing a making sure we have the right cruise in place and we are taking the proper steps to crawl, route crawl, walk, rhonda. To realize that this is a very walk, riu run. To realize that this is a very, we have to bring that safety philosophy and make sure we are able to be that. Assuming that the standdown results in some solutions to the problem whether its in safety or its in training, how long do you think it will take to implement anything that comes out of the standdown . Think it will come out the next couple of days. Secretary, in addition to the lives that were lost, those actions cost aviation the army about 600 million in equipment. Are you appropriately funding for some of the training the general talked about . Yes, we have been fully funding our flying hours for the last two budgets that we have submitted. For example, we have put investments into making sure that we have sufficient resources for our simulators, for our flying hours for all of our pilots. There are challenges in terms of looking at spare parts and maintenance and all of that. One of the things that we need to look at is our our pilots getting enough flying hours. But to do that weve got to make sure that the aircraft are ready to fly. There are a lot of pieces to fit together, but we are definitely investing fully and that in my view. Thank you. A little over a year ago, you informed this committee on the decision in order to maintain what you talked about in your Opening Statement. High quality army. Now based on the latest recruiting data, it looks that number looks to be reduced. We should have an exact number on that. Around 452,004 this fiscal year and we understand that that goal may not be reached. Where do things stand with Army Recruitment . Are you seeing a positive connection between advertising and recruitment bonuses . Chairman, we are seeing improvements in our recruiting situation. We are in a better situation. In the we are in a better situation than we were the previous year. 65,000 new recruits this year and we are not going to make that goal. We are doing everything we can to get as close to it is possible, but we are going to fall short of that. As i said in my Opening Statement, if we did not get into this situation in a year, and i think its going to take us more than a year to rebuild our recruiting and we are going to have to look at as i also mentioned in our Opening Statement the implications of that for our structure and for our readiness level. We will, through our total army process, we are looking at how to bring down that over structure and make sure we are manning our units adequately. One followup question, apparently not ready to strengthen numbers. This is not a good thing. Its not a good thing for a couple of all, this is information in a new system, should be able to do without a lot of screwing around. Quite frankly, its not giving you the numbers to be able to track and have solid data on recruitment. Because of a glitch in the dam program. Thats a problem. How are you able to attract needs without solid data . It took us six years to build it and it brought together 40 different systems so its very complicated so thats why we had glitches for example but we have worked through that. We have a tiger team that is working through the specific problem areas that have emerged as, the challenge with the recruiting numbers is more than our models dont incorporate new initiatives that weve undertaken, but we know how important it is to get that data and we will work with you to get that to you as soon as possible. I appreciate that. I will just tell you that if i have one major pain in my behind, its computer systems. It does not matter if its military, it is a matter if its v. A. There always is something wrong. Its just not something that can make the army all it can be or the v. A. All he be either. Thank you for concluding that conversation by concluding the pain was the computer system. The way you started that, i wasnt certain where you were going to go. Let me start with both of you. If we are not going to meet our recruitment goals, that means consequences in a practical way to have army operates. What can you tell me first as someone who is interested in the overall wellbeing of the army, what you are thinking, what are your plans that will alter the structure of our army across the army and around the globe and then as a senator from kansas, tell me what concerns, if any, i should have about what those changes mean to installations and the assignment of soldiers to places, to bases, to forts across the country. Is this a consequence that will have a modest impact across the board . Or a consequence in which you will be making decisions about who stays the same, who gains and who loses . Let me try to answer that concisely. We do not want a hollow army. We do not want to have tiered readiness. What we call the spaces to be closer to the actual amount of spaces, soldiers that we have. Frankly, we have to undertake the transformation go through got to make room for the new types of structure so what we are trying to do is basically spread out some of those changes. We did a people might court where we basically went and looked at the different types of soldiers and units and said do we need to have 60 cooks or can we use 40 . We are doing that. We are looking at what we call units priority. We looked over the years at the units that we use very heavily as opposed to those that we may have used much less frequently. Those are areas where we could probably do some sending out. The reality is 450,000 so it most large installations around the country, the number of actual soldiers is fewer than the authorizations that are there so i think we will be able to make many of these changes without it having large impact to any of the major installations, but if we dont turn our recruiting situation around, i cant guarantee you that the army wont have to make some more substantial potential for structure reductions. Weve got to make sure that our units for example that are on the Immediate Response board are manned adequately so that they are ready to go. Your planning and your conversations, have they gone to that point in which you were discussing about what significant changes might take place if recruiting does not turn around . We are looking at that right now, but we havent made, we havent come to any firm conclusions. We would very much like to avoid making any large structure changes because it can be hard to reverse that. It can be very hard to reverse that. What kind of timeframe, when could this committee have a view as to what you are as to what youre thinking is in a more formal way . We will probably be able to come to you in the next few months and talk with you about how all of that is looking for us. That would be before a decision is made . We have a document called the , helps us look at finalizing the changes and i think we would want to come and talk to your staff for example about how that is looking. When does a decision not to be made in order for this to be, live up to the consequences of less . Five years out, we do want we do one every year. We wont have to make final decisions probably about any significant changes until 2000 25. But we need to start thinking about that because we want to make sure that our grades are adequately manned. You understand why this is such a significant topic of conversation for the country for this committee, for you. I appreciate that. General, anything you want to add to that response . Ok sorry about that. I can fly apaches, but i cannot operate the mic. As we take a look at getting ready for the next flight fight, we are moving from counterterrorism, irregular warfare. This type of systems will be more valuable in largescale combat operations like the systems you have at you have are going to be more important. We are also developing longrange, missiledefense and we are going to do this on a flat budget and there will be some decisions eventually what that looks like. The concern we have right now is it may not be a structure change, but we cant fill the actual units. They may be at 70 strength. The structure is there, but you dont have the soldiers filling those ranks and thats what we are concerned about. Let us know how we can help recruit. Thank you. I think you both for being here. I want to start with the status of the lease negotiations. 1964, the United States military was awarded a 65 year lease for 23 thousand acres of hawaii state lands for one dollar. We are now coming up on potential renewal of that lease and i think we are on thats are in agreement. Many of those leases expire. I think where we are all landing is promoting our National Security and treating the citizens of the state of hawaii with fairness and respect are not mutually exclusive. At this point, they are completely intertwined. Secretary, can you give me an update on the status of the negotiations . As you know, we have two Environmental Impact statements that are relevant to looking at the lease agreements and those will be completed at the end of this year. The next step would be for the army to be looking at what we would come forward with as a proposal for what the final agreement would look like and that record of the decision would come forward until 2025. We have some time to be talking with, when i was last in hawaii i met with governor green and had a very productive discussion with him. We are very much now trying to engage as the Environmental Impact statements work their way through the process. We are trying to engage with all of the different stakeholders in hawaii to understand, to help us understand what the shape of an arrangement might look like. Sen schatz we all agree hawaii is entitled to the same guarantee of Homeland Defense as every other state. The army expands a line of sight for defensive launchers to better intercept missile threats. Other considerations for how the graham could apply program could apply to the defense of hawaii . It is a potential consideration, i am not aware of anything right now. But as you said, it is a gamechanging technology that allows us to integrate sensors and shooters for air Missile Defense. If we lay out that requirement, we can take a look at it. Sen schatz there is a lot of talk about the defense of guam. I support that. I want to remind everybody, hawaii is not the homeland. It is not an insular area, it is the 50th state, it is the home u. S. Army and Marine Forces pacific. Even if it is difficult and expensive, we still need and i get that it was abandoned, perhaps for legitimate reasons but i want to flag for you that as we are gaming out our scenarios, we are focusing on the central and western pacific and then the continent. Hawaii deserves protection two. Protection, too. On recruiting, following up on what senator moran talked about. You are going to fall short. I think you are doing what is necessary to try not to fall short, but its fair to say the pacific is the priority area. I know you are predecisional, i would like you to talk in at least conceptual terms about how you will absorb production in the number of Army Soldiers in a way which is consistent with our indopacific strategy . Ms. Wormuth certainly. I will draw on what i said before. Its important to realize the actual number of soldiers at places like fort riley, fort, is bragg and hood is below the number of authorizations on the books. We have the soldiers we already have. What we are trying to do is look at as we think about the new kinds of force structure we need to build. The chief mentioned the Multidomain Task forces the integrated air and Missile Defenses, for example. We are looking at where can we shed types of structure that was very useful for coin and counterterrorism but we dont need as much of it right now. To make room for new structure. The way we have gone about that, among other things, is we have looked at what we are calling people optimization. There are places where we can thin out across the whole force structure. We are also looking at the units that are underutilized, those are candidates for elimination. All of this will be spread around our major installations. National Defense Strategy requirements are primary. We have to be able to have the readiness levels and structure we need to execute the strategy. Certainly paying attention to , the indopacific is core to that. Senator murphy. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here today. Mr. Chairman, i wanted to ask a few questions about the future vertical lift program. First of all, it is the first opportunity to talk about this in this subcommittee. Mr. Chairman, as you know, i along with senator blumenthal made a series of requests to the army to get a briefing on the flower award. And was denied that briefing by the army multiple times. I think this subcommittee, and more broadly the appropriations subcommittee has to rigorously guard our equities when it comes to getting information from the army and the administration when it comes to contract awards. In fact, the regulations governing the awarding of contracts carves out a specific role for congress to be briefed on these matters, even while the award is pending. I hope this committee will continue to work on what i think is a misaligned equilibrium right now between the administration, department of defense and this committee. When it comes to how much information is shared. Miss wormuth, i wanted to talk about this specific award. I have parochial interests, this is not a context between bell, techtron and sikorsky. The award went to the bell program. I guess i want to talk about my concerns regarding tilt rotor aircraft. My understanding is that past performance did not factor in to the contract award. And this committee will be charged with picking up the full cost of this new program. Tilt rotor aircraft, like the v22 osprey have a pretty miserable performance, reliability and Safety Record over the last 30 years. The v22 is supposed to have Mission Readiness of 82 , but over the last five years the osprey has been at 56 . The procurement cost went from 33 million to most 100 almost 100 million. Today the cost per flight of the v22 is 10,000 an hour, double the initial estimate. What was interesting about this particular contract award is that the bid that came in from textron was twice the amount of the bid that came in from sikorsky. Layer on top of that this history suggesting that a tiltrotor will cost our taxpayers inordinately more than even the initial bid. And i worry we will have a hard time being able to fund the full cost of this award. My question is, do you have any information as to why the army did not take past performance of tiltrotor aircraft into account when awarding the flora contract . What do you say about my concerns when i say that if the cost curve on this new helicopter, which is a Foundational Program for the army is anything like what we saw for the osprey, we are in for some big unexpected costs that we will have to bear on the subcommittee. Ms. Wormuth senator murphy, i want to say i completely support and value the oversight role of congress in these matters. We want to be good partners with you in terms of being entrance being transparent. If you had not received a detailed briefing, another the gao has issued its decision on the competition, i will make sure the team talks with you about that. My understanding is that the things that were emphasized in the Selection Process did include looking at a lower technical risk. Precisely because of the fact that in the past, if the technical risk is higher, a lot of times that means the cost in the out years are higher. This the statement cost is higher because they are not appropriately baked in to the competitive process. One of the reasons we selected the belltextron aircraft was because it was assessed to have lower technical risk. Even though the bid from sikorsky from an overall dollar amount was lower. It was a best value computation, competition, it wasnt strict we strictly based on price. We in the army had considerable concerns about the visibility in to the design process that came from sikorsky. I can get back to you in detail in terms of how we incorporated past performance of the osprey into the calculations. But we absolutely emphasize the importance of having lower technical risk in the program. Sen murphy i would note that our subcommittee has a gao report on this specific question of whether risk is being properly calculated, when awarding programs within the future vertical lift aircraft process. This gao report concludes that right now the army is not properly identifying longterm risk on these programs. So i look forward to being in a dialogue about recommendations from this gao report and getting a better holistic sense of how much this will cost the taxpayer in the long run. Senator murphy, have you been briefed by the Defense Department . I have. Would you yield to the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee . Absolutely. Let me say, chairman tester, and vice chair collins, i am glad to join both of you to keep talking about the investments that we have to make to support our troops and keep our country safe. These hearings are so important to remind us that we need to return to regular order and pass our nations funding bills in a timely, bipartisan way. I will keep saying that until we get to a regular order. If we are going to stay ahead of our competitors like china and others our investments have to , keep up, not fall behind. Or fall into uncertainty because of bipartisan gridlock. Im glad we have this opportunity today to hear from our witnesses about what that means for the army. And how we support our servicemembers and their families, like the troops into at lewis mccord and yakima in my home state of washington. Its important that this conversation focuses on getting our military families the support they need, like a child care, Mental Health care, good housing and schools. We have to make sure we are keeping men and women in uniform safe. My heart goes out to the families of the soldiers lost in recent Helicopter Crashes. I expect to hear more following the armys review of safety procedures about how we are preventing future tragedies. At the end of the day, we heart of the military isnt our weapons or equipment, it is the brave and talented men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line to keep our country safe. Before i asked my questions, i want to thank each of you for your service to this country. This committee has a deep appreciation for everything our servicemembers do to keep their members safe. With that, let me ask a few questions. Secretary, in my home state of washington, we are still seeing issues with the availability of suitable housing. Especially at j blm. I am hearing that as many as 250 servicemembers and their families spend 34 months in hotels or other accommodations while they wait for a home on base to become available. These servicemembers and their families have to have safe and reliable and affordable places to live, period. I want to ask you what you are doing to make sure that Housing Needs are being met both on and off base . Ms. Wormuth availability of housing is a challenge around j blm and a number of locations around the country. We are doing a few things. This budget has 690 Million Dollars for family housing. We also have our Privatized Housing that we work with the five Different Companies that provide that housing. So we are constantly looking at how can we invest more, how can we encourage those companies to invest more so we are able to generate more inventory at places like jblm. We are really pushing osd to reopen how they calculate the basic housing allowance. This goes to being able to afford housing off coast. The way we have calculated i personally am not fully comfortable with how we are doing v. A. H. We are going to look at it, in some cases, we may need to raise the base rates to allow our soldiers to afford housing. I look forward to hearing more about that. After department of defense review that was finished last year found the Drinking Water supply for 24 installations exposes 135,000 servicemembers a year to Dangerous Levels of chemicals linked to cancer. And other illnesses. The presence of these environmental contaminants on including pfas on installations and their surrounding communities is a huge concern of mine and many others. Especially with some of the worst contamination levels at j blm and yakima Training Center. Are there barriers you have identified in cleaning up these contaminants . To my knowledge, there are not barriers to cleaning it up. If there are cases where Drinking Water is not found to be safe, we will work with the affected area to get access to safe Drinking Water. Whether that is by looking at new wells or other ways to solve that problem. I am aware that the epa is contemplating making changes to how it assesses what is a safe level of pfas. Are you chording with the epa to make sure the army is testing the most recent recommended healthy Drinking Water advisory levels . Im sure that we are coordinating with the epa, if they change what they determine to be a safe standard, that will have implications for us. Secretary, first, thanks to both of you for your service. Secretary, are you aware that the administration has released a draft regulation that would require defense contractors to work on their Greenhouse Gas emissions for the weapons and systems they make . And said Emission Reduction targets . Are you aware of that regulation . Ms. Wormuth i dont think i am aware of that specific proposal at this time. It has not come. It is a draft proposal. If we are going to make contractors track emissions on the weapons they make, arent we starting now to prioritize emission standards over weapons performance . Ms. Wormuth without seeing the specifics of the draft, i cannot really speak to the implications. For example, if contractors are being asked to just track their emissions and report them, that is different from having a consequence if there levels are deemed to be not acceptable. I would need to know more. Tracking emissions and setting standards for bombs into munitions, we will make that a factor for deciding which ones that the military procures . Wont that affect the effectiveness of those weapon systems for warriors and the cost . Ms. Wormuth senator, i havent seen the proposal, so i hesitate to comment on it. Obviously, our soldiers need to have the best possible equipment to defend the country. I would want to make sure that is what we put our emphasis on. Thank you. General, i was just in south korea and taiwan. Taiwan has ordered and is paying for on the order of 19. 5 billion worth of military hardware they want to use to counter aggression by the prc in china in the taiwan straight. We are working with other allies in the indopacific, japan, the philippines president is here now and so. To deter chinas aggressive behavior. One of the issues is getting those munitions. Its not just about monetizing our forces, which we must do, and this committee is working with you to do it. It is also providing enhanced armaments to our friends in the partners and friends, that should sound familiar in the indopacific. By the same token we need assistance to be provided to ukraine, but they are needing to procure these weapon systems as well. And we are modernizing our forces. That puts a strain on the supply chain. What are we doing, what can we do to expedite that, which is crucially important in ukraine, crucially important in the indopacific, and to our own forces. And making sure they have the best armaments. Gen. Mcconville it is really important that we invest in an organic Industrial Base. It is important for the longterm. I agree with investment. We need to expedite the production now. What can we do to expedite the production with the investment we are making is my question, sir . Gen. Mcconville my response, the Defense Industry does not operate on enthusiasm, they want contracts. Longterm contracts they can invest in their systems. When they see we are starting to ramp up, doing some of the systems we are doing now. I think it is important that we project outwards. With multiyear contract that helps. They know that when they invest this year, they will have a 35 year funding stream that will allow them to invest and ramp up capabilities. We need to work with our allies and partners to make sure they are doing the same thing with their organic Industrial Base. These countries need to have the capabilities, Weapons Systems, a competence in those weapon systems, and soldiers need to have the will to fight. For both of you, are we providing the assistance in terms of the Weapons Systems requested by ukraine to end the conflict, so they can be successful, rather than a stalemate . I would ask first you, secretary, then you, general. Ms. Wormuth i believe we are providing ukrainians with what they need to fight the russians. Certainly, the army is giving them systems. Stalemate. Ms. Wormuth we want to see the ukrainians prevail. That is in the National Interest of the United States to do more than achieve a stalemate. We cannot let the precedent of being able to declare that a country doesnt exist. We are doing that. We need to defeat the russians and we are doing that. Gen. Mcconville its also the training, we are seeing a lot of higher level combined arms training up to the brigade. We have significantly increased their capability to have combined arms operations at the brigade level and above. You are one minute away from asking questions, it is your turn. It was worth waiting for. Secretary wormuth, i am sorry senator murray isnt here, your response on the testing of our servicemembers was not accurate. I have been trying to get that done through the ndaa for several years. For several years. What we are being told by the dod is that we dont have the capacity to do that and there has been opposition from the dod. I hope i intend to send that to senator murray so she knows we are not doing that. Your advocacy would be very much appreciated. For both of you, when you appeared before the Armed Services committee, i asked why the army had failed to include full funding for the enhanced night vision goggles, binoculars. Congress stepped into a restorative the 300 million. Senator murphy talked about the gao report, there is also one on the potential impact of what will happen if system gets fielded before it is ready and the potential for men and women in the military not to make use of that because there is so much concern. How do we explain the fact that you havent requested funding for the emvgb . Between on thank it is working well, as we are talking about his question about the Defense Industrial base, and as you replied, they are concerned about contracts. When we say two companies, we want you to produce these, they gear up to do that, and the contracts are not forthcoming, it sends a message that we cannot to be counted on and we dont need what is being proposed. Tell me again, i dont feel like i have gotten an answer on why you are not requesting funding for the emvgb program. Sec. Wormuth i will try again. First of all i want to emphasize that the emvgb is a great system. The pentagon had a take your child to work day at work last week, we had many systems that kids could look at. The emvgb was one of them. Sen. Shesheen that doesnt surprise me at all. Sec. Wormuth our soldiers like it and they are comfortable with it. We have a finite amount of resources that we can apply to modernization. We are having to make choices. That is relevant, whether it is about vehicles, or wearable tech for our soldiers. What we are trying to do with the emvgb, is strike a balance. Does more than what the goggles do. It allows our shoulders soldiers to train, rehearse and fight in a synthetic training environment. Sen. Shesheen its not ready yet. Sec. Wormuth we are still working on it. If Congress Gives us the money we requested in this years budget, we will use it to work with microsoft to get the system to a place where our soldiers will want to use it. If microsoft isnt able to do that, he will not develop the program further. I know the gao report talks about 22 billion, sen. Shesheen and the armys own report. Sec. Wormuth we are not going to spend 22 billion on a system if it doesnt work. The chief and i believe this is important Wearable Technology for our soldiers. We want to see if we can get it to a place where it is going to be desirable for our soldiers. Think it can be. If microsoft knows, this is it, they either get it or we will move on. Gen. Mcconville enhanced night vision goggles arrivals cuttingedge technology. If we go back to the first goggles, they were big clunky things, how far we have taken the technology is great. To me is transformational. It will change how soldiers take part in the battlefield. If we want to get that edge that will transform however soldiers, that is the tradeoff,. Sen. Shesheen it is not working at. It is not working yet. We are shortchanging the people who need the Current System that does work. Thank you both for being before the committee here, i joined other collies in expressing sadness and condolences at the loss of life with the Helicopter Crash in alaska this week. Families are grieving comedy families are grieving, we are all grieving, there is great deal of grief will come through. I am looking forward to being with you in alaska on friday, hopefully the opportunity to be there at fort wayne. Secretary wormuth, i know we have in place this stand down for a. Of time. I am hoping that this stand down will achieve the desired outcome, which is to determine the safety, and not just a messaging tool. We recognize that not only, this hordes of this horrible tragic incident, and others. Do you care to comment on that . Sec. Wormuth the safety stand down, will allow all of our aviators to focus on safety, to review their procedures, make sure they are doing everything that they should be doing. That will involve more than just a messaging. There will be investigations, there is already one underway at the crash at fort campbell. We will probably learn additional insights from those investigations that we will make sure the aviation immunity has. Sen. Murkowksi let me ask a couple questions about provisions within the 2023 ndaa, this is under 603. We authorize policies we are hoping will improve the quality of life of soldiers that are stationed in alaska. I have been told that there has been no guidance released for how and when these new policies will be implemented. My concern is we have a Service Members who are missing out on these timelimited incentives that are designed to help alleviate hardships that are inherent with being in the north. One is the provision that allows for coldweather cold weather a special duty pay. The second is the requirement that the secretary numbers eligible Service Members for the cost of airfare to travel to their home of record when they are assigned to alaska as a duty station. Can you give me any information in terms of when soldiers can expect to receive the cold weather pay or the reimbursement for eligible travel . Sec. Wormuth on the cold weather pay, the army has been providing that pay to soldiers since 2020 through our remote location incentive pay. I dont have the acronym off the top of my head. If you are above 53 degrees north, fort greeley, single soldiers get 2000 dollars, and soldiers with dependents get 4000. Sen. Murkowksi this provision in ndaa was in addition to that. Sec. Wormuth my understanding, i am not an expert, there is concern with osd that we will be double counting. I would be happy to work with you and your office if you think the amount of the current incentive is not sufficient. I think there is concern from osd about creating a second sen. Murkowksi we need to talk about this quickly. This is not about double dip, this is about addressing the realities that come when you are in these cold weather and environments. And the ability to take care of yourself and your family. Sec. Wormuth the travel piece is in draft right now, ive heard personally from soldiers how important it is to fly home. I will commit to you to look to see if we can speed that up. There is no issue, its just going through the process. Sen. Murkowksi these are questions i will be asked when im up there. The more information the better. Thank you mr. Chair, thank you both for being here, i appreciate your service. I would add my voice of concern for the accidents we have seen, you are working im sure it hurts everybodys hearts. I wanted to ask about munitions, general mcconville. How has the ukraine conflict helped assess the performance of existing Army Munitions and assumptions about requirements for the future fight . Gen. Mcconville as far as our performance, it is showing, things like high mars have become game changers. The u. S. Weapons systems have been in great demand and are working well. The usage rates have gone beyond what we have historically used. We have never used the amount of 155 rounds. Standing up our organic Industrial Base so we can manufacture, to get our stock rates up to what we think we may have to use in largescale combat operations. Sen. Capito would you say, and terms of our capacity now, if we were to be engaged hypothetically and something where we need those munitions for our own purposes, are we ready to do that . We are not bleeding ourselves down to where we are not ready, but we need to replenish . Sec. Wormuth as we have looked at the request for support, we have weighed that carefully. We are not giving away more than we can afford to. We have been creative to give them as much as we possibly can without going too low in our stockpiles. We have a lot of work to do in regenerating our Industrial Base. That is why we are investing 1. 5 billion in this budget to invest in our own organic Industrial Base. I think we are rebuilding the capacity now. That will serve us well in the future. Sen. Capito in West Virginia we have good resources that can help with that. Lets talk about recruitment. I understand in august, you stood up a pilot program, the future soldier prep course, to help individuals improve to the standards rather than lower standards. How does that working, are you getting a lot of uptake on it, is it making improvements . How do you see that program . Gen. Mcconville i think it is transformational. One thing we have done is made a blood both, we are not going to a lower standards. This is important, to invest in young men and women. We talk to recruiters who said they were having trouble passing the sat for the military, and meeting the physical requirements because of a body weight. We have had a 2000 go through the program right now, we are seeing 895 success rate, i think it is the future. Not only are they meeting the standards, they are exceeding and going on to do good things in the army. I think its something we need to look at as a potential for its expansion sen. Capito . When you are looking at a High School Class that is looking at pursuing the army, how does somebody find that . Do you have to be in a recruiting program . Gen. Mcconville its very accessible, you can go on the internet, you can go to a local recruiting station, if you are having talent having challenges with the test, we can help you. Sen. Capito hundreds of soldiers for the 101st airborne came to West Virginia for unique training experience. They got their hands on Developmental Technology and use it in a realistic training environment to provide feedback. I dont know if you are aware of that training exercise, and if you have comments on that. Gen. Mcconville im privy to the 101st airborne, having students go out to West Virginia is important. But also for the exposure. One thing we need to work on is making sure people get exposed to our soldiers so they know the what in the military is about. The value is for the soldiers to get a hand on the new technology so it is not stuck in a developmental phase, and you can see, and a real situation, what is going to work and what isnt. So we can get them into the actual production phase. Thank you very much. Thank you chairman. Its good to be with you all, we appreciate all of your hard work. I understand general, you are retiring. We appreciate you and your service. You have had an outstanding career. We also appreciate your family, these are family affairs, the sacrifices they have made through the years. It is always good to talk about the budget, trying to figure out what your priorities are, and we can how we can help you as you work through this. You have been focused on maintaining readiness and modernizing the army for future conflict in the pacific. After recently visiting the leaders in the pacific, i learned the importance of the Army Supporting the joined forces in the pacific. Can you highlight the importance of the armys future role in the joint fight in the pacific . Gen. Mcconville the army has a Critical Role in the indopacific, along with our joint partners. Some of the things we do, long range position fires, contested logistics, providing ground troops, and working with our allies and partners on the ground to increase their capabilities and competence so they can defend their country. Where the american soldier goes, it reensures those armies that we deal with, they have the confidence to fight. Sen. Boseman what in the budget support to the armys role in the joint force and where does it assume risk regarding the indopacific . Sec. Wormuth im happy to speak to that. We are making a lot of investments in this years budget aimed at the invoke as to the indopacific. We have over a hundred 50 million in this years budget for Army Prepositioned equipment. We are investing in new composite watercraft that will allow us to take supplies and move it around. And in terms of our programs, we are investing in the long range position fire programs. We are investing over 550 million in integrated air and Missile Defense program, things like patriot. We are also looking at deep sensing capabilities, our airborne isr sensing, and another 300 million in that theater. Sen. Boseman i want to touch on something senator moran touched on. The armies of fiscal year 2024 budget request is short of the 2018 National Defense strategies recommendation of 300 pre5 real growth. The budget is eight rate of 2 growth over fiscal year 2023. How can we help you, can the army afford to continue its 2030 modernization strategy without reducing force structure . Sec. Wormuth i feel that our budget allows us to do our part in the National Defense strategy, to keep our momentum on modernization, investing in readiness, and take care of our people. The challenge is going to be, as we look to the out years. The future vertical lift programs are very expensive. The optionally manned fighting Vehicle Program is expensive. As we look at trying as those become programs of record, and the army needs to field them at scale, that will get expensive. I worry, under the current budget, how are we going to manage this in the out years and take care of our people . We have a lot of infrastructure bills, not just associated with housing for soldiers and families, but power projection, its looking to 2030 and beyond where it gets challenging. Sen. Boseman thank you all very much. I will turn it over to senator moran for his close. I will submit for the record this question to both the general and the secretary. In the funded priorities list, includes 530 million for abrams tanks to a full brigade level. I would like to hear why that is not included or why it is important and see if we can be of assistance in that regard. So much of what we have talked about, so much of the capabilities of the army is dependent upon the issue of recruitment. It strikes me as interesting, why is recruitment difficult when pretension is favorable . One would think those who are serving, who are making the decision to reenlist, have encountered a good experience. But it is not translating into people who have not yet served. Is there analysis or a way to take advantage of the circumstance of which people already upping to get people to up for the first time . Sec. Wormuth thats part of our Soldier Referral Program is aimed at. We have really good retention. People who are in the army, many of them are having good experiences. We are asking them to take that story to their communities. If they are able to ring forward people to sign up and go to basic, they get points towards promotion. Some of it is about reintroducing the army to the American Public. Addressing legitimate concerns that parents have about housing, or sexual harassment. There are misperceptions about the army, that it is slowing people down. I argue it accelerates kids towards college degrees. We need to do a better job of telling our story coming we welcome your held we welcome your help for that. Ive got to ask a quick question to this is on modernization programs and the transition. The army is going to invest in six modernization portfolios to build the army of 2030, which requires funding for research, technology, prototype development, and experimentation. The army also is slashing and during programs while undergoing this modernization, the impact on the Defense Industrial base is significant. I would tell you, after all we have heard in this committee about our Industrial Base and predictability, it is contrary to that, that is being kind. What are you hearing from the Defense Industrial base and our critical suppliers in response to repeated proposals to terminate production lines in an enduring program . I mean that to be a question that i am concerned about our supply chains. One of the things we try to do in this committee is make sure there is addict ability in purchasing. That being said, there are antiquated programs that need to go away. That is perfectly acceptable and good business. The question is, i dont want this to impact critical supply chains. Sec. Wormuth its a very much in the armys interest to have a robust and healthy Defense Industrial taste. We share that. With finite resources, we are constantly having to strike a balance between putting resources towards new systems, but also maintaining our enduring programs, things like abrams, stryker. In making those choices, and setting that a balance, way the health of our Industrial Base. We have tried carefully to not make any decisions that severely damage our Industrial Base. The supply chain goes well beyond the armys organic industrial race. We are trying to work with our partners to help them rebuild their supply chains. I didnt realize things would move so fast. So much of the hearing has been focused on recruitment and the challenges, i wanted to raise a question that was presented to me last week. I met with members of the afghan female tactical platoon who were here. There are a number of afghan former Service Members who worked with us during that conflict. I was interested to hear them say they would like the opportunity to continue to serve the u. S. As you think about recruitment challenges, are there ways we can enable people like these women, who have Honorable Service and want to continue to support to the country, to serve . Sec. Wormuth i met with those women as well. They were inspiring, a number of them held up and said they would like to join the u. S. Army. We have pathways for folks who do not yet have u. S. Citizenship to join the army. My understanding is the current immigration status those women have may not be high enough to allow them to join the army at this time. I offered to write a letter to secretary of to help with their proceedings. If they are able to be granted asylum, assuming they meet our requirements, they are very skilled, the Biggest Issue will be the language requirement. We are ready and able to save them we are ready and able to receive them. I want to urge the committee to think about what we can do to help. We should give them the opportunity. I appreciate you freeing up that point. It is worth considering and finding out how we can add to making the army all it can and wants to be. I want to end my voice to all the folks saying thank you for your service, for what you have done, for being very professional in front of this committee, your testimony took only three minutes, we like that. You may not be able to retire this summer. There is a hold on all layoffs, your replacement is not confirmed and may not be unless we get a level of common sense around here to allow you to be able to go to montana and retire. We do appreciate what you have done and what you will continue to do in retirement. We appreciate boast your testimonies. Both your testimonies. We would ask you respond to questions as soon as possible. This defense subcommittee will reconvene next thursday on may 11 at 11 00 a. M. For a hearing with the secretary of defense and chairman of joint chiefs of staff. That will be an interesting hearing. Until then, we stand in recess. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] on wednesday, the chair of the Federal Reserve will give an update on Interest Rates and other Monetary Policy actions, live at 2 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Cspan now, our free mobile video app, and online at cspan. Org. A healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this. Where americans can see democracy at work. A republic thrives. Get informed straight from the source on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the Nations Capital to wherever you are. This is what democracy looks like, cspan, powered by cable. The Senate Judiciary Committee Held a hearing on Supreme Court ethical

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