Transcripts For CSPAN2 Army 20240706

U. S. Army secretaryrn christe wormuth and army chief of staff general James Mcconville test of adam President Bidens 2024 budget request before Senate Appropriations subcommittee. During their 90 minute hearing that outlined the focus the focus on people, redness and modernization. Will call this committee to order. I want to thank secretary wormuth and general mcconville for being here. Welcome back to both of you. We appreciate your leadership in our nations army look forward to discussing the armys Budget Priorities for fy 20204. Before we begin a like to express my condolences to the entire army family following last weeks tragic death of three soldiers and helicopter accident in alaska and i comes on heels of recent death of nine soldiers following a midair collision of two helicopters in kentucky. Ensuring a brave men and women in uniform have access to the best training and equipment they need is a priority of this committee. I have wanted to do more from him about your order for Army Aviation unit to complete 24 hour safety standdown and any corrective actions you plan on taking. The fy 24 budget request for the department is 185. 5 billion which is 300 million below the not enacted in fy 23 and nearly 11 billion more than elected that enacted in fy 22. So let me repeat that. 185. 5 is 300 Million People last years but 11 billion more than the year before that. Worldwide challenges and threats are constantly worldwide challenges and threats are constantly evolving. The armys response in battlefield to the future is to transform the army into the army of 2030. This transformation includes investments in people, reorganization and development of new equipment at adoption of new concepts to defeat our adversaries. We can best help the army on his path to transform to the army of 2030 through the timely enactment of a a defense appropriations bill for fy 24. Ontime appropriations provide the resource predictability enables the army to execute training and operate plants effectively and efficiently for the entire fiscal year. Let me put it this way. In order for the army to be all that can be we Congress Must do our jobs. I look forward to working with senator murray come senator collins, Ranking Member takano committee putting us in a position for success in getting the budget passed on time. The armys because noo two advantage is its people but these are difficult times. We look forward toe hearing moe about how your tackle recruiting challenges are given the need to modernize in light ofn an ever evolving threat we also look forward to an update about the pace of modernization. You all have my full support to develop and field modernization, modernize capabilities but im growing increasingly worried about repeated rules by the army to break our production lines and destabilizing bases will need the most. Once again what to thank you for your service to the country. Senator collins is not here as you can see. She has a Health Education Labor Pension Committee markup s morning. She may arrive later but you forget to your Opening Statement i have one quick statement at a want to turn over to senator moran. Wei heard yesterday the moment time we default under debt is coming up one month, june 1. I talked like getting a 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 the common sense way. But what the houses in last week week is not a common sense way. Makes us the weaker country. And if we continue down this line i am 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 of getting a budget out, Defense Budget in this case by the end of september so that you guys have the certaintio waste a lot of taxpayer dollars and military Industrial Base has a certainty to know what we need and are able to deliver it on time. Without ill turn it over. Chairman tester, thank you. I would add my support for all of our effort in this committee to make certain that we get appropriations process completed, done on time and we avoid a w continuing resolution that would be very damaging particularly to our National Security. As i begin my Opening Statement i like to take a second to recognize the three Army Aviators who lost their lives in a training accident over thena weekend in alaska. Another solemn reminder of the sacrifices of his limbs and families make every day whether deployed or at home. Thank you both for your service to oura nation and for being he today discussed the United States armeys budget request for fy 2024. General mcconville is my understate this would be her last Posture Hearing. While that saddens me may be a pleasurable thought for you. This is her last Posture Hearing of chief of army for the district chief of staff of the army is like to thank you for decades the service in uniform in the defense of our nation to ungrateful for the relationship and friendship weve had, the conversations youre willing to engage with me and im especially grateful for your visits to fort riley and Fort Leavenworth last summer. Kansans take pride in the armys present in our state and in these installations role in the defense of our nation. Kansas communities are engaged, supportive of the soldiers and families who call these posts home. General secretary wormuthe discussed this recent five minutes ago i look for to hosting you in kansans in the near future to showcase the capabilities that kansas military posts and the support of armeys soldiers. United states is in the midst of one of the most challenging National Security situations of my lifetime, and army is critical t to the support of the security of our nation. The army is critical to the future of our country. This administrations armeys budget request for fy 20,204th does not adequately address these concerns. Assuming the best inflation estimates the armys fy 2024 fy4 request represents a real growth rate of a negative negative 2. 4 . As coach of sin army caucus and member of the subcommittee it is my priority that the army have the resources necessary to thought National Security obligations. We continue of the ongoing recruiting crisis within the army, the force will look different from just two years ago roughly 35,000 below its fy 20202 authorized industry the 485,000 soldiers. Congress shouldl be informed of all the alternatives as he army considers options to manage the significant reduction here lets work with you, together to find satisfactory solutions and help the Army Physician recruitment efforts. We need to overcome this deficit of soldiers. No one i think its true industry wants to see the army return to a tiered readiness model. I believe the retention of Army Force Structure is critical. Reductions structure may be a quick fix solution that will set the army back at a time when the need for a radio 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 credit. The russian invasion of ukraines highlighted deficiencies in u. S. Industrial base particularly as its ability to produce munitions, stocks and supply. Americans in kansas workers stand ready to support use war fighter. I i support the armys recent investment into the munitions Industrial Base. Recently had a chance to visit the former Kansas Army Ammunition plant which will have a vital role now reengaging in supporting the increase munition production needs. I also want too applaud the armys recent selection of the the armys future longrange assault aircraft. This aircraft provides the needed speed and distance is aboard the army 2030. I will continue to use my position on thiss committee to help support the modernization of the Army Aviation fleet to keep pace with our challenges. The army is a backbone of the joint force if the United States is in conflict army answers the call. While air and marine superiority are essential this is only possible with army, with the armys present. The u. S. Ability to project power tools critical ground relies upon the armys ability to compete in the pacific theater. I highlight at least my own perspective that our country faces real and serious challenges. We need to do the things necessary to make sure we counter thoseo circumstances if the army has a significant role. This has a significant role in supporting that effort. I look forward to your testimony and your response to the questions. Thank you both the. Thank you, senator moran. We will start, secretary wormuth. You have for. Thanknk you. Good morning chairman tester, senator moran and distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for your ongoing support as m we continue to buid 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 and alaskan i asked the chief to look into making sure that were going to do a standdown to make sure we understand exactly whats going on here and we can make sure our aviators share Lessons Learned from these recent incidents. We are both pleased to appear before you today. I want to thank general mcconville west decades of service and leadership in the army. This is indeed his last hearing and it hasas been a pleasure too three cycles of budget hearings with you, chief. So congratulations. Weve accomplished a lot in the last year but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We remain focused on our three priorities, people, modernization and readiness. The fy 24 budget enables us to support the National Defense strategy, provide ready forces to ourur combatant commanders, d take care of our people. I investing over 39 billion in procurement we are maintaining our momentum on her modernization programs and are largely on track to bring 24 systems across the finish line in 2023. This is a big year for longrange precision fires. Prototypes of the precision strike missiles, the midrange capability and the longrange hypersonic weapon will be enhanced soldiers in this fiscal year. Big year for nextgeneration combat vehicles, mobile protected firepower is in production and the empathy is also being fielded. Big year for our integrated air Missile Defense programs and the future vertical lift program as well. As we shift from two decades accountants urgency and counterterrorism Counterterrorism Operations to largescale combat operations were also transforming our force structure. Were going to need to adapt our force structure to make room for things like the Multidomain Taskforces as well as other new units like the indirect Fire Protection capability and are battalions. We are ready army and we continue to emphasize readiness in everything we do. We are funding 22 combat Training Center locations. We have a a robust exercise program and we are implemented a new readiness model which helps us balance modernization, training and ongoingon missions. We arere also investing and reposition stocks which have served us very well in europe and will continue to serve us well in other theaters. To assist ukraine in fighting russian the army has provided over 20 billion in Legal Assistance including a wide range of munitions, radars and combat vehicles just to name a few items. One of the most important lessons weve learned from the situation in ukraine is a need fore m. O. Robust defense Industrial Base. So in our budget we have 1. 5 billion investment arsenal depots and ammoot plants. We are also working very closely with ourur defense partners and industry to increase munition production so we can continue till the ukrainians but also very poorly to replenish our own stocks. Even asle her soldiers provide Legal Assistance and training the ukrainians on forces we havent taken our eye off of the pacing challenge of china. Indopacom may be a a theater d after two oceans but the army does have an Important Role to playth there. The best way to avoid fighting a war is to show that you could win any war you might have to fight. So the army is contributing to strengthen deterrence in indopacom every day as we campaign in the region through ours, exercises and partnership. And if deterrence fails the army will be cheaply on the joint force team if theres a conflict. As important as it is to build new weapon systems and maintain our readiness, people are the strength of our army. This budget includes a 5. 2 pay raise and funds important qualityoflife improvements like family housing, child Care Initiatives and new and renovated barracks. We alsoo of course want to build cohesive teams of soldiers that are trained, disciplined and fit so thehe army is committed to positive command climate across a force where our soldiers can be all they can be. We are also continuing to strive to prevent suicide in our ranks. Suicide is ale national challene of course butou we have to do everything we can to reduce suicide in the army. Weid 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 we have engaged leaders at every level the no,t sir soldiers and make sure that their soldiers are connected to their leaders, to their buddies and to their families. Our army is a great his army in the world but to keep it that way we have to solve our recruiting challenge. The difficult recruiting landscape we face didnt happen in theit year and is going to te us more than a year to turn this around. We are laser focused on this challenge and werend not goingo lower our standards to solve the problem. We are Generating Positive momentum from initiatives like our future soldier prep course, Referral Program at a new advertising campaign, be all you can be. Our efforts are geared towards one thing, reintroducing the army to the American Public at 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 o morning. Thank you, madam secretary. Next we have general mcconville. Madam secretary thank you for leadership. Chairman tester, senator moran, distinguish merge of the subcommittee thank you for the opportunity to be here today and for your continued support. We appreciate your condolences and our condolences go out to the families to or following a ditch and lets get turned on existing one purpose, that is to protect the nation by being ready to fight in with our nations wars as a mother joint force. To do this the army has set three clear priorities. People, readiness and modernization, or in other words, future readiness. We have remade aggressively committed to these priorities while inching the nations call during every crisis and every challenge. Issued the Army Continues to undergo its greatest transformation in almost 50 years. We delivering on modernization because we have been consistent and weve been persistent on our modernization priorities. Last year we official update or our capstone for fighting doctrine to multidomain operations which incorporates convergent lessons from ukraine. We continue to stand new organizations to support a new doctrine. Last june we reactivated the historic 11th 11th Airborne Division in alaska. September we kept our third five Multidomain Taskforces. We are on track to field 24 signature weapon systems in fy 23. But at the end of the day we must get the right people in the right place an in order for f these initiative to be successful. This is why people remain the armys number one priority. We want every young person in and everything to note service in the army as a pathway to success both in and out of uniform. Whether you serve for four years or user for over 40 years the army offers endless possibilities. Were not only profession of arms for her profession of professions. You can be whatever you want to be in the United States army. In fact, you can be all you can be. I am often asked how people can help us, answer is an spike in maine dash ofir young men went o sir. We go with the army we have picked the army we have is a worlds greatest fighting for us because we serve with the worlds greatest soldiers. With your continued support with when to keep it that way. Thank you and i look forward to yourur questions. Thank you each for. Your testimony. Last week as i said in my Opening Statement, three soldiers were tragically killed when their helicopters collided and a Training Mission in alaska. As i also pointedan out this is on heels of another failed helicopter accident in kentucky, cost nine lives. February 2nd, to make social also lives in a helicopter accident also in a Training Mission at this time in alabama. So general mcconville commutation standdown order to the Army Aviation units last week and directed additional safety training. Would you please give us an update on what you will be reviewing specifically . Thank you, chairman. Last year for Army Aviation was a safe as we had in history but were only as good as a last flight. As you mention wesa that two tragic flight in the last month and as a result the secretary and i directed safety standdown. Thats an opportunity for all our aviation commanders and senior commanders to bring their aviators together to take a look at the procedures that they use and you take a look at crew mix to understand the type of training theyre doing and making sure we have the right crews in place, taking the proper steps, crawl, walk, run to get after some of the news were going after and to realize that this is a very dangerous business. Unlike may be operating a vehicle close to a curb, with aviation if you make a mistake orat something happens it can be toy catastrophic and we need bring that safety philosophy we had from the last couple of years back into the cockpits and make sure we are able to do tha that. Assuming that the standdown will result in some solutions to the problem, whether its in safety or whether its improved to training, how long h do you think it will take to implement anything that comes out of this standdown . I think it will be over the next couple of days so they will bring it back and were expecting immediate result. Secretary wormuth, in addition to the lies that were lost, those accidents also cost aviation accidents since 2020 across the army about 600 million in equipment. Are you appropriately funding for some of the training the general just talked about the repairs, or simulator . Yes, weve been fully funding are flying hours for the last two budgets that weve submitted, for example, and so we have put investments into making sure we have sufficient resources for our simulators, for flying hours, for all of our pilots. There are challenges of course in terms of looking at spare parts and maintenance l and allf that, so i think one of the things we need to look at is our our pilots actually getting enough flying hours . But to do that weve got to make sure the aircraft are ready to fly so theres a lot of pieces that fit together in that but we are definitely investing fully in that come in my view. And you have the money in this budget to continue to invest fully in the . Yes. Yes. A a little over yuriko you informed this committee ofes the decision in order to maintain, highquality. Now face on the latest recording data that number looks to be further reduced to about 452,000 which by the way we should have an exact number on that, but around 452,000 452,000 l year and we understand that goal may not be reached. So where do things stand with Army Recruitment . Are using a positive connection between additional advertising and recruitment bonuses resulting in more men and women signing up for the army . Chairman, we are seeing improvements in our recruiting situation. We are in a better position come for example, at this time last year than we were in the year. Us at the same time the chief and i set a very ambitious goal of 65,000 new recruits this year, and were not going to make that goal. Wereg at doing everything to gs close as a possible were going to fall short of that. And as a sinema Opening Statement we didnt get into this situation and europe and states were to take as without a year to rebuild our recruiting and we are going to have to look at is also mentioned a Opening Statement the implications of that for four structure and far readiness level. We will throw throttle ons process were looking at how to bring down that over structure andre make sure were manning or units adequately. Before you turn to senator moran when followup question. You have a new personnel system. It inexplicably kicked soldiers off tricare. This is that a good thing. Is that a good thing for foa couple reasons. First of all this is information that a new system should be able to do without a lot of screwing around, and, quite frankly, its not giving you the numbers to be ables to track and have solid date on recruitment, you get soldiers are better off tricare because of the clutch in the damn program. Thats a problem. How are you able to track these without solid data . It took us six years to build that anna brought together 40 different systems. It was very complicated and thats why we have glitches for example, like the soldiers with tricare but we worked through that. We have a tiger team that is working all of the specific problem areas that have emerged as we gone live. The challenge with our recruiting numbers frank was more than our models to incorporate some these new initiatives weve undertake elective future soldier prep course but we know how important it is to this subcommittee to get that data and we will work with you to get it to uss possible for i appreciate that. I would just tell you that senator moran and i serve on the committee as chairman and Ranking Member, and if i have one major pain in my behind its computer systems. It doesnt matter if itss military. If it be a,sn doesnt matter if its Montana State tax system. Theres always something wrong, and man, its just not, its not something that can make the army all i can be or the v. A. Only can be either. So with that alternate over to senator moran. Chairman tester come thank you for concluding that conversation by indicating the pain with a computer system. The way you started i wasnt certain where youre going to go. Let me start with really both of you. So if were not going to meet our recruitment goals, that means consequences any in a practy to the army operates. What can you tell me first as someone whos interested in the the armyellbeing of what you are thinking, what are your plans that will alter the structure of our army across the country 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, two bases, to force to post across theac country. Is this a consequence that will have a modest impact across the board, or a consequence in which you would making decisions about who stays the same, who gains and who loses . Thank thank you, senator. Let me try to answer that concisely. We do not want a hollow army as you indicated. We do not want to tiered readiness. Part of the hard work of the army and the next couple of years is going to be bringing down that over structure, what we call the spaces to be closer to the actual amount of faces, soldiers that we have. And, frankly, we have to undertake that transformation in any case because weve got to make room for some of the new types of structure we need for the army of 2030. What were trying to do is basically spread out some of those changes really. So, for example, we did sort of what i would call eight People Night Court will be basically went and looked at all the different types of soldiers in units and said we need to have 60av cooks or can we use 40 coo . We are doing that. We looked at what we call unit priority and we have looked over the years of the units weve used very heavily as opposed to those that we may have used much less frequently. And those are areas where we can probably do some thinning out. The reality is our in the strength right now isnc about 455,000. At most large installations run the country right now the number actual soldiers is fewer than the authorizations that are there. We will be able to make many of these changes without it having large impacts 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 were substantial potential for structure reductions. Because weve got to make sure our units, for example, better on the Immediate Response force are manned adequately so there ready to go. As your planning and your conversations come have gone to that point and what you were discussing what significant changes mightcu take place, if recruiting doesnt turn around . We are looking at that right now, senator, but we havent come to any firm conclusions. We would veryio much obviously like to avoid making any large force structure changes because it can be hard sometimes 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 youre thinking is any more formal way . Senator, 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 a. And that would be before a decision is made . Well, we have a document called essential helps us look at finalizing the changes. We would want to come and talk to your staffs for example, about how that is looking. When does the decision have to be made in order for this to really live up to the consequences of less in the strength . It looks five years out and we do one every year. I think major can we wont have tobo make final decisions probay about any significant changes into 2025 that we need to start thinking about that because again we want to make sure that our brigades are adequate deman demand. Madam secretary, youll understand why this is such a significant topic of conversation for the country come for this committee, for you. Of course for i appreciate that. General mcconville, anything you would want to add to that response . [inaudible] sorry. Okay. Is that russia sorry about that. I can fly apache but i cant operate the mic. As we take a look at getting ready for the next fight that we see is where moving from counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, irregular warfare so those typee system that would be more valuable and largescale combat operations by some of the systems you have at fort riley and other places are going to be more important but we are developing longrange precision fires, in Missile Defense, counter uas systems and will do this but much on a flat budget and flat end strength so the will be some decisions eventually what that looks like. What we have right now is on end strength is may a man of tha structure change but if we cant fill the actual units they made it 70 strength is what, and so the structure still there but you dont have the soldiers killing those ranks and also we are concerned about. Lightest of how we can help recruit. Senator schatz. Thank you, chairman. Thank you both for being here. I want to start with the status of the lease negotiations with the the state of hawaii. 1964 the United States military was awarded asphyxiation five year lease for 23,000 acres of hawaii state landsat for one dollar. We are now coming up on the potential renewal of that lease, and i think we are all in that the people of hawaii are entitled to a fair deal on all leasing moving forward. Leases to expire in 2029. That includes the training. , the valley, and i think where we are all landing is that promoting our National Security and treating the citizens off te state of hawaii with fairness and respect are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are completely intertwined. Secretary, could you give me an update on the status of the negotiations . Ti certainly, senator schatz. As you know we have two Environmental Impact statements that are under way right now that are relevant to looking at the lease agreements, and those i believe will be completed at the end of this year. Thear next step would be for the army to be looking at what we would come forward with as a propulsive what the final agreement would look like and that record of decision wont come forward until 2025. So we had some time to be talking with, when i was last in hawaii i met with the governor, had a productive discussion within. I met with leaders from the native hawaiian community. We are very much and now trying to engage as Environmental Impact statements work their way through the process, were 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. Thank you. General mcconville, we all agree hawaii is entitled to the same guarantee of Homeland Defense as every other state. Expensive line of sight to better inset missile threats. The consideration family icbs program could apply to the defense of hawaii . Right now its a potential consideration. Im not aware of anything right now that put icbs but as you said its a Game Changing technology that allows us to integrate sensors and shooters for air Missile Defense and that does give uss that capability angrily at the requirement if we can take a look at it. Theres a lot of talk about guam and the defense of guam. I support that. I want to remind everybody that hawaii is a homeland. Hawaii is not an insular area. It is the 50th state. It is the home of indopacom, the home of use on the pacific, the of Marine Forces pacific. And even if it is difficult, even if it is expensive, we still need to have, and i get that it was abandoned and perhaps for legitimatee reasons, but i just want to flag for you as we are gaining out our scenarios that were focusing right now on the central and western pacific, and then the continent. And hawaii deserves protection, too. On recruiting, just follow up, secretary, on what senator moran talk about. You are going to fall short and i think youre doing what what is necessary to try not to fall short but i think its fair to say the pacific is the priority area here and although i know you are predecisional, i would like you to kind of talk at least in conceptual terms about how youre going to absorb some reduction in the number of Army Soldiers in a way that is consistent with our indopacific strategy. Certainly. I will maybe drop again a bit of what i said before. One, its important to realize the actual number of soldiers that are at places like 25th ib, at fort riley, for example, at fort bragg, at fort hood for humphreys. Exactly for its blow the number of authorizations that are on the books. We had the soldiers that we already have. What were trying to do is look at, as a think about the new kinds of force structure we need to build as a chief mention the Multidomain Task forces, the indirect Fire Protection capabilities, a lot of the integrated air Missile Defenses for example, we look at where can wewe shed maybe some types f structure that was very useful for coin and counterterrorism we dont need as much of right now. And to make room for new structure, and the wayth we got about that among other things is weve looked at as a set what recalling people optimization. There is places where we can fan out across the hold force structure and then were also looking at the types that s that are maybe underutilized. Those are candidates for elimination, for example. I think all of this will be spread around our major installations. And National Defense strategy requirements are primary. Weve got to be able to have the readiness levels and the structure we need to execute the strategy, and certainly paying attention to the indopacific is core to that. Thank you. Senator murphy. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here today. Mr. Chairman, i wanted to take my time to ask a few questions about the future vertical lift program. First of all the first opportunity to talk about this in this subcommittee. Mr. Chairman, as you know i made a, along with senator blumenthal a series of requests of the army to get a briefing on a flora award, and was denied that briefing by the army multiple times. I think this subcommittee and more broadly the appropriation subcommittee has to rigorously guard our equities when it comes to getting information from the the administration when it comes to contract awards. Ra in fact, the regulations governingng the awarding of contracts cards at a very specific role for congress to be briefed on these matters, even while the award is pending. Painting. I hope this committee will continue to work on what i think is a misaligned equilibrium right now between the administration, the department of defense and this committee when it comes to how much information is shared. Secretary wormuth, i i wantedo talk to you about the specific award. I i understand ive parochial interests, right . This is a contest between bell textron and sikorsky and the award went to the bell program. But i guess i want to talk to you a little bit about my concerns regarding tilt rotor aircraft. My understanding is that past performance did not factor in to the contract award to this committee is going to be charged with picking up the full cost of this t new program. Tilt rotor aircraft have pretty miserable performance reliability and Safety Record overa the past 30 years. It supposed to havee a Mission Readiness of 82 but the last five years the osprey has been a 56 . The procurement cost went from 33 million to almost 100 million. Today the cost per flight of the v 22 is 10,000 an thousand dollars an hour, which is double the initial estimate. Whats interesting about this particular contract award is that debate that came in from textron was twice, twice the amount of the bid they came in from sikorsky. Layered on top of that this history suggesting that a tilt rotor is going to end up costing our taxpayers and norton line more than even the initial bids and i worry that were going to have a hard time being able to fund the full cost of this award. I guess my question is do you have information as to why the armyon did not take past performance of tiltrotor aircraft into account when awarding the floor a contract . And what you say about my concerns that if the cost curve on this new helicopter, obviously a Foundational Program for the army is anything like what we saw for the osprey didnt we are in for some pretty big unexpected costs that were glad to to on the subcommittee. Senator murphy first of all of what to say of course i completely support and a valued the important oversight role of congress in these matters. We want to be good partners with you in terms of being transparent. If you have not already received a detailed briefing at that the gao has issued its decision if you on the competition i certainly will makee sure that the team get up to talk with you about that. My understanding is that the things that were valued or emphasize if you will in the Selection Process did include looking at lower technical risks, 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. The sustainment cost can be high because they are not appropriately baked into the competitive process. One of the reasons as a understand it that we selected the bell textron aircraft was because it was assessed to have lower technical risk even though the bids to came in from sikorsky roman overall dollar amount was lowered. It was a best value competition. It wasnt strictly based on price. We in the army had some considerable concerns about our visibility into the design process thatis came from sikors. I can get back to you in more detail in terms of how exactly we incorporated past performance of the osprey into the calculation that we absolutely emphasize the importance of having lower technical risk in the program. Mr. Chairman, i will just note that our subcommittee has a gao report on this very specific question of whether risk is being properly calculated when awarding programs within the future of vertical lift aircraft process,af and what this gao report come to the conclusion is right now the army is not properly identifying sort of longterm risk r on these programs. So look for to be in a dialogue about some of the recommendations in this gao report and getting a better sense of how much this is going to cost the taxpayer in the long run. Thank you very much. Very quickly, have you been briefed by the Defense Department . And i have to i had and i thank you for arranging for that. Senator hoeven would yield to the chairman of the full Appropriations Committee . Absolutely. Thank you. Senator murray. Thank you so much added you had to get back to work some really do appreciate that. First of all let me say chairman tester and vice chair collins who is being filled in by senator moran today, im really glad to join both of you to keep talking about the investments that weve got to make to support our troops and keep our country safe. These hearings where having are so important to remind us that we need to return to regular order and passed our nations funding bills and the timely bipartisan way. I will keep saying that until we get back to regular order. Now if you are going to stay ahead of our competitors like china and others that means our investments have to keep up, not fall behind or fall into uncertainty because of partisan gridlock. Im really glad we have this opportunity today to hear from our witnesses about what that means for the army and, of course, how we support our Service Members and their families like the troops at joint base lewismcchord and yakama nation in my home state of washington. Its important that this conversation also focus on getting our military families to support they need, like child care and Mental Health care and good housing and schools. We also to make sure were keeping men and women in uniform safe here my heart goes out to theof families of the soldiers e lost in the recent Helicopter Crashes. I expect a more following the armyss review of the safety procedures about how were preventing future tragedies. At the end of the day the heart of our military isnt our weapons are equipping. Talented menve and and women who are willing to put the lives on the line to keep our country safe. For i ask my questions i just want to thank each of you for your service tofo this country. This committee has a deep appreciation for everything our servicemembers do to keep their member safe. With that let me ask a few questions. Secretary wormuth, in my home state of washington we are still seeing issues with the availability of suitable and affordable housing, especially at jblm. Im hearing that as many as 250 servicemembers and their families spend from three50 to four months in hotels or other accommodations while the wait for for a home on pace to become available. These Service Members and their familiesce have to have safe and reliable and affordable place to live, paid megaupload ask you what youre doing to make sure that Housing Needs are being met both on anded off base. Thank thank you, chair m. Availability of housing is a challenge around jblm and in the number of other locations around the country. When doing a few things to try to work on that. First of all this budget has 690 million in it for family housing. And then we also obvious have our privatize housing that we work with the five Different Companies that provide that housing. We are constantlyy looking at hw can we invest more, how can we encourage those companies to invest more so were able to generate more inventory at places like jblm. Another thinglm were doing is were really pushing osd to reopen how they calculate the basic housing alliance. This goes obviously being able for our t soldiers and familieso afford housing off coast. The way we have calculated, i personally am not fully comfortable with how were doing vah editing will look at that open it up and look at the anchor points we use, look at the utilities, cost factors we are using. In some cases i think we may need to raise vah rates to our soldiers and femmes to be able to afford housing off post. That some of what were trying to do. I i look for doing more about that. Thank you. A department of defense review that was finished last year found the Drinking Water supply supplying 24 installation exposes about 175,000 servicemembers a year to Dangerous Levels of chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses. The presence of these environmental contaminants including pfas on installations in the hispanic communities continues to be a huge concern of mine and i know many of us here in the senate. Especially some of the worst contamination levels at jblm and yakima Training Center. Are there barriers you have identified including of these contaminants on active installations . Chair murray come to my knowledge there are not barriers to clean that up. If there are cases where Drinking Water is not found to be safe, we will immediately work with the affected areas to get access to safe Drinking Water, whether thats by looking at new wells or other ways to solve that problem. I am aware that i think the epa is contemplating making some changes to how it assesses what is a safe level of pfas and he have potentially very substantial speed is are you coordinating with the epa to make sure the army is testing its most recent recommended Drinking Water level. Was im sure we are according with the epa. If epa changes what they determine to be a safe standard that will have implications for us that a think will be significant financially. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you, senator hoeven. I. I appreciate it. Senator hoeven. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Sector, first thinks of to both of you for your service. Secretary wormuth, are you aware that the administration has releasedra a draft regulation tt would require contractors to report, defense contractors, to report on their Greenhouse Gas emissions for the Weapons Systems they makeis and also set Emission Reduction targets, are you aware of that regulation . Senator, i dont think i aware of that specific proposal at this time. It hasnt come up. Its a draft proposal but essentially it prickling in a contractors track their in missions on the weapon systems they make, as well as from their supplies, isnt that, art we started out a prioritize i guess a mission standards over weapons performance . Senator, without seeing the specifics of the draft i cant really speak to the implications of it. T. For example, if contractors are being asked to track their emissions and maybe report them, thats different from having some sort of the consequence if there levels are deemed to be not acceptable. Think i would need to knowab a little more about subtracting emissions and setting standards for life munitions and bombs and t things like that, we are now going to make that a factor in deciding which ones that the military pictures . Wont that affect both the effectiveness of those weapon systems for our warriors as well as the cost. Was senator, again i havent seen a proposal for hesitate to comment on it. What i wille say is obviously r soldiers need to have the best possible equipment to defend this country and i would want to make sure that thats what we would put our emphasis on. Thank you. Thank you. And then general, so i was just in south korea and taiwan. Taiwan has ordered and is paying for i think 19. 5 billion worth of military hardware that they want to use obviously to counter aggression by the prc china in the taiwan strait. Obviously we are working with other allies in the indopacific, japan, philippines, president s ear now and so forth, to deter chinas aggressive behavior one of the issues is getting those munitions so its not just about modernizing our forces which we must do and this Committee Finds that effort, is working with you to do it. Its also providing those enhanced armaments to our friend, our allies, partners and friends, that should sound familiar to you, in the indopacific. By the same token we need and are providing assistance to ukraine, but they are meeting to procure these weapon systems as well. And where modernizing our forces. That puts a real strain on the supply chain. What are we doing, what can we do to expedite that, which is crucially important in ukraine,s end up indopacific, and our own forces and they can show them the best armaments . Its really important that we investnt in our organic and socl base and as b we talk about, for the longterm. And as we i agree with the investment but my question is we need to expedite the production now. What can we do to expedite the production now with investment were making, is my question. I guess my response, having watched this, is Defense Industry doesnt operate on enthusiasm. They want contracts. They want longterm contracts a can invest in assistant and when they see that we are starting to ramp up, doing 155 rounds, doing some of the systems right now and its very, very important that we project outwards, in some case of what multiyour contracts that helps. They know when they invest this year they will have a three or four or five year funding stream that will allow them to invest and ramp of these capabilities. We need to work with our allies of parties to make sure theyre doing the same thing in their organic and also based because theseco conjugate of the capabilities which weapons assistant, the capacity which is enough of them, have confidence in the Weapons Systems and their soldiers need to have the will to fight if theyre going to defend their country. For both of you are we providing the assistance in terms of thean Weapons Systems requested by ukraine to end the conflict so they can be successful rather than stalemate . I would ask for you, secretary and then you, gentle. Senator, i believe we providing the ukrainians with what they need to fight against the russians. We are giving them systems and certainly the army is giving themem system versus stalemate now. Stalemate. We want to see the ukrainians prevail obviously. I think that is in the National Interest of the United States to do more than achieve a stalemate. We cant let the, there cant be a precedence of being able to just declare that a country doesnt exist. We need to give them the equipment they need to defeat the russians and i think we are doingg that. General. I would add is notches equipment. Its the training. What were seeing is a lot of higherlevel combined arms training up to the brigade level and with significantly increase their capability to combine arms operations at the brigade level and above. I i can think to both of you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator shaheen, 20 minutes ago you were women away from asking questions. Its your turn. Finally. Well, it was worth waiting for. Secretary wormuth, im sorry senator murray isnt here because your response on the testing of our servicemembers i think was not totally accurate or i can try to get that done to the ndaa for several years now, and, in fact, what we are being told by dod is we dont have the lab capacity to do that and is been opposition from the department of defense to get that done. So mr. Chairman,n, i hope, i intend to share that with senator murray so she knows, in fact, were not doing that. Well, im happy to look into that and do what i can. Great. Your advocacy would be very much appreciated. For both of you, when you appeared before the Armed Services Committee Earlier this year i asked why the army had once again failed to include full funding for the enhanced night vision goggles, binocular binoculars. Congress stepped in last year to restore theo full 300 million. Senator murphy talked about the gao report on the vertical lifts. Theres also a gl report of the potential impact of what will happen if the system gets fielded before its ready, and the potential for men and women in the w military not to actualy make use of that because theres so much concern about it. That you havent requested funding for the emvgb . Between on thank it is working well, as we are talking about his question about as youve replied, general mcconville we appropriately, theyre concerned about contracts. So when we say to companies we want you to produce these, they gear up to do that and then the contracts arent forth coming, it sends a message that we cant be counted on and we dont really need whats being proposed. So, tell me again, because i dont feel like ive gotten an adequate answer on why youre not requesting funding for the program in this budget. Okay, senator shaheen, i will try again. First of all, i want to emphasize its a great system. We this may surprise you, but the pentagon had take your child to workday last week and in your courtyard, the army had many, many of our systems that kid could look at and the engb is one of them. It doesnt price my, i thought it was a great system. Its a good system. Our soldiers like it and very comfortable with it. I think, one, we have a finite amount of resources that we can apply to modernization so were having to make choices and that that is relevant, whether its about jltv and other kinds of vehicles or what i would call wearable tech for our soldiers. What were trying to do is strike a balance. Ivas as you know, does more than what the goggles do. A system that allows the soldiers to train and in an environment. Its not ready yet. Our soldiers are not thats true, we are still working on it. Youre right we are still working on it and if Congress Gives us the money that weve requested for ivas in this years budget well work with microsoft to get the system to a place where our soldiers will want to use it and if microsoft isnt able to do that, we will not develop the program further. You know, we are not i know the gao report talks about 22 billion dollars, that assumes fully and an it report. Its not the only report and the armys own report says the same thing. Were not going to spend 22 billion on a system if it doesnt work, but i think the chief and i both believe that this is important, Wearable Technology for our soldiers. We want to see if we can get it to a place where its going to be desirable for our soldiers. We think it can be, but he think that microsoft knows that this is it. They either get it done and get it to a place where our soldiers want to use it or we will move on and i dont know, chief, if you want to add to that. I think, first of all, the enhanced night vision goggles, bravo, cutting edge tech following. When we first started with goggles clunky thinks on your head and how far weve taken the technology is great. To me its transformational and change the way our soldiers operate in the battlefield. Where we look at with resources we want to give the next three to five years to get that edge thats going to transform how our soldiers are going to fight and thats the tradeoff that we make right now. And i understand that aspiration, but its not working yet and until it works, it seems to me that we are short changing those people who need the Current System that does work in a way that is not acceptable, as were looking at war fighting, so, thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being before the committee here. I join other colleagues in expressing sadness and condolences at the loss of life with the Helicopter Crash in alaska this week. Families are grieving, the community is grieving and i know for army all are grieving theres a great deal that will come forward as a result of this and general, i look forward to be with you on friday and hopefully at fort wainwright. Secretary wormuth, i know we have in place a standdown for a period of time. I am hoping that the standdown will achieve the desired outcome, which is really to determine, to really determine the safety there and not just a messaging tool that were kind of looking at this. That i think that we recognize not only this horrible tragic incident, but that this follows others that weve seen, unfortunately. So if you care to comment very quickly on that. Yes, senator. The safety standdown, as the chief and you have discussed, will allow all of our aviators to focus on safety, to review their procedures, you know, make sure that they are doing everything that they should be doing, and that absolutely will move more than just messaging, and then, of course, there will be investigations, theres already an Investigation Underway at the crash that we had at fort campbell, and we will probably learn additional insights from those investigations that we will also make sure the Aviation Community has and can make think changes that are needed. Thank you for that. Let me ask a couple of questions about provisions within the 2023 ndaa, section 603, we authorized some poles that were hoping will improve the quality of life and the soldiers that are stationed in alaska. I have been told that right now there are there has been no guidance released for how and when these new policies are going to be implemented and my concern is, is that we have Service Members that are missing out on some of these time limited incentives that are again, designed to help alleviate some of the hardships that are inherent with being in the north. One is the provision that allows for cold weather special duty pay and the second is the requirement that the secretary reimburse eligible Service Members for the cost of air fare to travel to their home of record when theyre aligned to alaska as a duty station. Can you give me any information in terms of when soldiers can expect to receive either the cold weather pay or, again, receiving the reimbursement for eligible travel . Yes, on the cold weather pay, the army has actually been providing cold weather pay to soldiers since 2020 through our remote and austere location incentive pay. I dont quite have the acronym off the top of my head, but basically if youre above 63 degrees north. So if youre at fort briely, for example, or fort wayne wright, single soldiers, 2,000 and dependents 4,000 since 2020. This provision with ndaa was in additional to that. My understanding, and im not an expert on this, senator so i may have to get back to you for the record. Theres concern with osd that somehow we will be double counting, so, i would be happy to work with you and your office if you think that the amount of the current incentive isnt sufficient, but i think theres concern about creating a second. We need to talk about this and do so quickly because this is not about doubledip. This is truly about addressing some of the realities that come when youre in these cold weather environments and the ability to take care of yourself and your family with that. How about on the travel piece of it . The travel piece is in draft right now, and frankly, when i learned that its in draft because ive heard personally from soldiers how important it is to be able to apply home sometimes and i know how expensive those are. So i will commit to you to sort of look to see if we could speed that up. Theres no issue with it, its going through the staffing process. I know when im there this weekend, these are questions that i will be asked and im sure general mcconville you will as well. Thank you very much. Senator cap capito. Thank you, mr. Chair and thank you all for being here and i appreciate not just being here, but appreciate your service and men and women that serve with you. Id add my voice of concern to the accidents, obviously youre working affirmatively im sure it hurts everybodys hearts and the hearts of folks that you serve with probably more than others with the families. I wanted to ask about munitions general mcconville. How does observing the ukraine conflict helped the army assess the performance of existing Army Munitions and assumptions about our requirements for the future fight . First of all, you know, as far as the performance, i think its showing, you know, things like himars, changes, 155 round and utilized very, very effective and quite frankly, u. S. Weapons systems across the board have been in great demand and are working extremely well, but the usage rates have gone beyond what we, you know, historically have used and we have been at war and never used the amount of 155 rounds doing and the secretary is directing, and standing up our organic Industrial Base so we can manufacture and capability to do it in a manner stockage rates what we think we may have to use in large field combat operations. Madam secretary, would you say in terms of what our capacity is now, lets just say we were to be engaged i know hypotheticals are terrible, but engaged in munition for our own purposes. Are we ready to do that . Were not bleeding ourselves down to a point where we would not be ready, but we need to replenish, is that the case . As weve looked at the ukrainian request for support, we are a weighing it carefully, were not giving away more than we can afford to, but weve had creative ways weve given as much as we can without going low in our stock piles. Weve worked in regenerating our Industrial Base and thats why were investing in the our own organic Industrial Base and weve may very good use, congress has given us through the supplementals to give that quickly and get our partners and Lockheed Martin and raytheon, and were rebuilding that capacity now, and that will, i think, serve us quite well in the future. Good, good. We have in west verge we have some good resources that can help with that. Let me switch gears and talk about recruitment. I understand in august you stood up a pilot program, a future soldier prep course to help those individuals, improve up rather than lower your standards. General, how is that working . Is that making improvements . I know youre having recruiting issues, how do you see that program as its yeah, i think the transformational, senator. One thing the secretary and i have done were not going to lower standards and its important and were going to invest in young men and women and as we talk recruiters, they were having challenges passing what we called the aptitude battery test which is like a sat for the military and challenges meeting the requirements because of the body weight and with the program a little over 8,000 have gone through the program and 95 success rate. I think theres something there and its the future and not only are they meeting the standards, in many cases theyre exceeding and going on to do really good things in the army. So, i think this is something we really need to take a heart look at and its potential for expansion. When youre looking at the High School Graduating class thats interested in pursuing the army as a next step. How does somebody find that . Do you have to be in a recruiting program to be able to access that . Is it generally accessible . Well, the best way, yeah, its very accessible. You can go onto internet and contact recruiting and local recruiting station and then what happens, you start taking the best and having challenges, we can help you get into the program. The best way to access that is through a recruit, an actual sure, on the recruiter. A couple of weeks ago, soldiers for the 101st airborne came to rural West Virginia for a unique Training Experience and get it on technology and training environment and provide feedback on the impact that will impact the final product. I dont know if youre aware of that Training Exercise and if youd have any comment on what theyd look like in the future. First of all, you had the im privy to the 101st airborne a special place in my heart. Having units go out places in West Virginia and important for the work theyre doing and also for the exposure. One of the things we need to work on, people get exposed to our soldiers so they know what the military is about and that type of training. I think one of the values on this particular exercise is for the soldiers to get a hold of some of the Newer Technology or the breaking technology so its not stuck in in environmental phase and you can actually see whats in assimilated reallife, real situation to see whats going to work on what isnt so we can get them into the actual production phase. Thank you very much. Senator. Thank you, chairman tester, very, very much for having this important hearing and good to be with you all and we appreciate all of your hard work. I understand, general, that youre retiring and we appreciate you, appreciate your service, youve had more than an outstanding career and we also appreciate your family. These are certainly Family Affairs and the sacrifices that theyve made through the years. Its always good to talk about the budget, talking about the fiscal year 24 budget, trying to figure out what your priorities are and then, again, how we can help you, madam secretary and general as you work through this. General, youve been focused on maintaining residents and for a future conflict in the pacific. After meeting with army leaders in the pacific and visiting with Army Personnel in singapore, i understand the joint force in the pacific. Can you highlight the importance of the armys future role in a joint fight in the pacific . Yes, sir, i think that the army has a Critical Role in the indopacific along with our joint partners. Some of the things that we do, long range precision fires, contested lodge logistics, and so they can defend their country, thats important and where the american soldier goes, that reassures those armies that we deal with and they have the confidence to fight. I think its very, very important. What in the budget specifically supports the armys role in the joint force . Where does it assume risk regarding the indopacific . Senator, im happy to speak to that a little bit. Were make ago lot of investments in this years budget aimed at the indopacific. For example, the chief talked about contested logistics. We have over 850 million in this years budget for Army Prepositioned equipment and were for contested logistics and new composite watercraft that will allow us to take supplies and move it around that very large theater and then of course, in terms of our rdt and e programs, long range pre vision fire portfolio. Things like the pre vision strike missile, mid range capability. Long range hypersonic, air and Missile Defense programs, patriots, the indirect fire capability which will be able to intercept advanced cruise missiles and deep sensing capabilities and our airborne isr sensing and then the titan network, another 300 Million Dollars for that theater. Very good. I want to touch on something, i think senator mar ran touched on it earlier, but the armys fiscal 24 year budget request is 195. 5 billion short of the 2018 National Defense strategys recommendations 3 to 5 real growth. When adjusted for inflation, the budget is actually a right of negative 2 growth over the fiscal year 23. Madam secretary, moving forward, how can we help you . Is the can the army afford to increase the strategy with top lines or reducing force structure . Senator, i feel that our budget of 185 billion dollars as i said in my Opening Statements hey louse us to allows us to keep modernization, keep investing in readiness and take care of our people. I think the challenge for us is as we look to the out years, frankly, the future vertical lift programs are very, very expensive. Optionally manned fighting Vehicle Program is very expensive. As we look at, you know, trying to as those become programs of record and the army needs to Start Fielding them at scale, thats going to get very expensive. So where i worry under the current budget is how are we going to manage aum this have in the out years and still take care of our people. We have a lot of infrastructure bills frankly, not just associated with our housing for soldiers and families, but also, power projection, if senator shotts were here he knows about infrastructure in hawaii so its looking more to 2030 and beyond where it gets challenging. Thank you all very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I will turn it over to senator moran for his close. Chairman, thank you. Ill submit for the record this question to both the general and the secretary. The underfunded priorities list includes 530 Million Dollars to bring the total procure amount of abrams tanks to a full brigade level. Id like to hear why thats not included or why its important and see if we can be of assistance in that regard. And so much of what weve talked about and so much of the capabilities of the army is dependent upon this issue of recruitment. It strikes me as its at least interesting and maybe theres a good explanation, why is recruitment so difficult when retention is so favorable . One would think that those who are serving, who are making the decisions to reenlist, have encountered a good experience, but its not translating into people who have not yet served. Is there a some analysis or a way to take advantage of the circumstance in which people are reupping to get people to up for the first time . Senator, i would say that thats part of what our soldier Referral Program is aimed at. Youre right. Weve got really good retention, historically good retention, so people in the army, many of them are having good experiences so were asking our soldiers then to turn around and take that good news story to our communities and if theyre able to bring people forward and designed to go to basic they get points towards promotion, so, i think that some of it, again, is about reintroducing the army to the American Public and addressing legitimate concerns parents have sometimes what kind of housing kids are going to be in or sexual harassment. I think there are misperceptions with the army when in fact its slowing it down and i gar i argue it could accelerate and we welcome your help with that. Thank you, thank you both. General mcconville, thank you for your service to your country. Ive got to ask a real quick question, too. This is on modernization programs and the transition. The army is going to invest inform six modernization programs to build the army in 2030, require sufficient funding for research, technology, maturation, motor Type Development and vast military systems to the future Operational Force requirements, whatever. The army also is slashing enduring programs and hot production lines while undergoing this modernization and the Industrial Base and suppliers and work force is significant and would i tell you after all weve heard in this committee about our Industrial Base and predictability, it is somewhat contrary to that and thats being kind. So what are you hearing from the defense this is for you, secretary war wormuth. What are you hearing from the Industrial Base in response to proposals on hot production lines. I dont mean that to be appointed question, im very concerned about our supply chains, very concerned. And one of the things that we try to do in this committee and making sure theres predictability in purchasing programs. That being said there are antiquated programs that need to go away and thats acceptable and good business. The question is, i dont want this to impact critical supply chain bases. So tell me what youre doing. Certainly, chairman. First of all, its very much in the armys interest to have a robust and healthy defense Industrial Base so we share that. Agreed. With finite resources, we are having, the chief and i putting a balance with resources towards the new systems were developing in the portfolios that you mentioned, but also trying to maintain our enduring programs, things like abrams, things like pin. Things like striker, for example, and we in making the choices and setting that balance, do weigh the health of our Industrial Base. So, my view is weve tried carefully to not make any decisions that severely damage our Industrial Base and we are also, you know, the supply chain, that that goes well beyond, obviously, the armys organic Industrial Base and what were trying to do there is work with our partners in industry, the big primes, to help them rebuild their supply chains. Senator shaheen for one question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im sorry, i didnt realize things were going to move so fast, but i wanted because so much of the hearing has focused on recruitment and the challenges with recruitment, i wanted to raise a question present today me last week, i had a chance to meet with members, former members of the afghan female tactical platoon who are here. As you know, 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 very much like the opportunity to continue to serve the United States. So, as you think about recruit amount challenges, are there ways in which we can enable people like these women who have Honorable Service who want to continue to support this country to serve . Yes, senator, i actually met with those women as well. They were incredibly inspiring and a number of them when asked held up their hands and said they wanted to join the United States army. We do have path ways for folks who do not yet have u. S. Citizenship to join the army. We have green card path ways and local residents and my understanding is that the current immigration status that those women have, may not be high enough, if you will, to alo you them to join the army at this time, but i offered, for example, to write a letter to secretary mayorkas at dhs to try to help with their political asylum proceedings, but if theyre able to, you know, be wanted asylum, for example, assuming they meet our requirements and i think they will, the women are skilled. If anything, the language requirement, but were ready and able to receive them as soon as theyre able to come through the process. Well, mr. Chairman, i would urge the committee to think about what we can do to help advance that we have a number of committed people who want to serve the country and we should give them the opportunity. I appreciate you bringing up that point, senator, and i think that its certainly worth considering and finding out how we can add to making the army all it can be or all it wants to be or all it will be or all it is, okay . General mcconville, i too, want to asked my voice to the folks thank you for your service and thank you for what youve done and thank you for being very professional in front of this committee, i might add. I think your testimony took about three minutes, we like that, get to the point. And you may not be able to retire this summer. There is a hold on all flag officers right now, you know, so your replacement is not confirmed and may not be confirmed unless we get a level of common sense around here to allow you to be able to go to montana and retire like im sure youre going to do. But we do appreciate what youve done and what youll continue to do even in retirement. We appreciate both of your testimonies, secretary, thank you, general, thank you. Senators may submit additional written questions and we would ask that you respond to those questions as soon as possible, within a reasonable time. This defense subcommittee will reconvene next thursday, a week from this thursday, 11 a. M. For a hearing with secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and that will be an interesting hearing. Until then, we stand in recess. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] live this morning, testimony on the biden administrations 2024 budget request for the Environmental Protection agency. Epa administrator with appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee at 10 a. M. Eastern on cspan. You can also watch on our free mobile video app, cspan now, or online at cspan. Org. Book tv every sunday on cspan2 leadings authors discussing theirnonfiction books. Live at noon eastern, aorney author will take your calls and talk about government legal reform in america. Mr. Howard has written a half dozen books, including the most recent, not accountable and Manhatten Institute fellow, heather donald, argues the pursuit of Racial Equity with businesses and institutions, 10 p. M. After words, tking about efforts to shift how native america is viewed through her photos in her book, project 562. Shes interviewed by American University professional, watch book tv every sunday on cspan2, or watch anytime online at book tv. Org. Lawmakers in washington d. C. Continue to debate raising the u. S. Debt limit to avoid a potential default and economic disruption. The house recently passed legislation aimed at cutting federal spending while raising the debt limit. In the senate, majority leader Chuck Schumer said the socalled default on america act has no future in the senate. And President Biden and House Speaker mccarthy plan to meet to discuss more on the deadline. More now from the senate floor. Now, yesterday treasury secretary janet yellen released a warning that the u. S