this meeting on defense sub committee to order. this is a hybrid meeting, so i'm going to have to do a few housekeeping matters to make sure everyone knows what's going to happen and how this is going to work. members joining virtually, once you start speaking, there's a slight delay before you're displayed on the main screen. speak into the microphone. because it will activate the camera, displaying the speaker on the main screen. do not stop your remarks if you're not immediately seeing the screen switch. if the screen does not change after several seconds, please make sure you are not muted. to minimize background noise and ensure correct speaker is being heard and displayed, we ask that you remain on mute unless you have sought recognition, and i will call on you, or if you need to seek recognition, please do so. myself or a staff designee may mute the participant's microphone if there's inadvertent background noise. you are responsible for muting and unmuting yourselves unless we have a technical issue. if i notice when you're recognized and having a technical issue and you've not unmuted yourself, i will ask the staff to send you a request to unmute yourself. please accept the request so you are no longer muted. and finally, house rules would require me to remind you that we have set up an e-mail address in which members can send anything they wish to submit in righting in writing. and to help answer any extremely technical questions, we are joined today by under secretary mike mccord, comptroller. thank you for participating. the biden administration released its fiscal year 2023 budget request in march. as always, this sub committee had have an aggressive schedule to review the request, to make adjustments and pass the bill out of committee in june. our goal will be to go to the floor with the appropriations bill in july, and to get them to the president's desk by october for his signature. we both know speed is of the essence, because both here at home and around the world democracy and values are under threat. congress must make every option to do these on time. $62 billion has been proposed. this is a $33 billion or 4.6% increase over what was enacted in fiscal year 2022. make no mistake, we will ensure that the department of defense has the resources it needs to protect our country. but this top line number, when you put in perspective, let's think about it for a minute. in 2015, when we were still fighting in afghanistan, the department received $5.60 billion. that's an increase of spending over $200 billion in just eight years. and yes, the world has changed, and it's changed rapidly in recent years. and we've learned a lot. we've learned from the war in ukraine that it's not only important that we have strong military deterrents, but we also must have a robust diplomatic efforts to rally the world in opposition to authoritarianism. we must both ensure that we have both in order to protect our national security. it is our responsibility as congress to strike the correct balance between defense, diplomacy and development. the war in ukraine has also made it clear that the foundational task of properly maintaining, training and equipping a modern military is essential to our success in the 21st century conflicts. the poor performance in russia and their military has highlighted this very fact. taking care of our personnel, their families, providing their service members with the best training possible, ensuring logistics, challenges can be overcome and given decision-makers the best intelligence. these are all vital components of making sure that our military can win in any conflict. procurement, modernization, of course are important, but we will always want to have the edge over our enemy. it doesn't matter if we have 355 navy ships with the most advanced against we cannot perform basic maintenance and keep the ships in service. investments in personnel and operation and maintenance and help don't always drive the defense budget debates, but last year they made up 63%, 63%, of our bill. we all know there's no more critical investment than the health and safety of our service members. members have been particularly alarmed with recent events. the uss george washington where there have been several deaths, including investigations into suicide. the navy has launched this investigation into what led to these terrible tragedies. this sub committee stands ready to work with you for any additional funding for mental health services and any suicide prevention programs that you should want more resources for. we look forward to hearing from our witness, and our people, which are the backbone of our force. i want to commend the department for proposing a $3.1 billion in this budget for increasing resiliency at installations for energy efficiency, for its research and development into clean energy. as the largest consumer of fuel in the federal government, the department needs to do more to lower emissions, lower the cost of energy and fight climate change. and our sub committee wants to work with you on these shared goals. and we all know that climate change and addressing it is part of our national security agenda. finally, civil of us have had the opportunity to travel to eastern europe in the last month to see first hand the importance of working with the soldiers and sailors and marines, airmen and guards who are all doing whatever they can to help ukraine defend itself and promote security throughout the region. we look forward to hearing how this budget request and the immediate threat of russian aggression in europe while making investments in future capabilities in the indo-pacific region. and, as you know, we sent over to the senate the supplemental support for ukraine last night. so, secretary austin, general millie, under secretary mccord, i want to thank you begin for your service and the service of your families and to our country and being here to answer any questions we might have. before we hear your testimonies, sir, i want to recognize mr. calvert for any opening statements he would have. >> thank you. i want to thank secretary austin, general milley for being here. though i look forward to hearing your priorities, i believe it's critical to fund the d.o.d. at 3 to 5% above inflation to meet national requirements. it would be sufficient at historic levels, but due to this administration's spending, inflation is soaring at rates we have not seen since 1981. instead of accounting for these economic reality, the d.o.d. wrongfully pursued a 2.2% inflation rate at a time we must keep pace. america must continue to enforce the rules-based order that we've led in the endure global security we have involved in. doing so is in our own national interest. republicans in the senate and house are united just as we in fiscal year 2022 to ensure our war fighters have the tools they need to be ready, modernized and lethal. it's my hope that the majority follows that fiscal year 2022 conference framework to provide sufficient funding to d.o.d. and that we pass our bills on time this year. >> along with my disappointment in the top line funding level i also have serious concerns about some of the proposals by the administration. first, many of the services are continuing to pursue a divest to invest strategy. some are short-sighted and leave glaring capability gaps. we cannot simply hope that they meet the standards. i fail to understand how decommissioning aircraft helps us maintain our strategic combat advantage over these threats. budget prioritization of course must occur, but we must be ready for a variety of conflicts to break out in multiple war fighting dough plains. domains. i do not want us to lose sight of what happened in the withdrawal of afghanistan. it led to the deaths of 13 u.s. service members. i look forward to hearing from you about what our enduring requirements in this region are along with what capability we should be focussed on in fy 23 appropriation bills. i look forward to taking time to question you and i yield back my time. >> thank you, mr. cal vert. >> the chair woman will be joining us later, but now it's my pleasure to recognize the former chair of the sub committee and now full ranking member of the committee, ms. granger. >> thank you, chair mccollum, appreciate that very much. i'd like to thank the witnesses for appearing before us today. the past several months have highlighted how important it is for us to adequately fund our military. russia's unprovoked, illegal and appalling invasion of ukraine must continue to be met with strong resistance from the united states and our allies. adversaries like china, iran and north korea must know that america will stand firm with its allies and we have the ability to win any fight. while i commend the department's swift response to the ongoing conflict in ukraine, i'm disappointed bit department's fiscal year 2023 budget request. inflation continues to increase costs for all sections, cech, to sectors. and once again the biden administration is short changing defense. i hope we can reach a bipartisan consensus, similar to the one that led to the final passage of the fiscal year 2022 appropriation bills. this includes robust defense spending at a rate much higher than requested by the administration. congress must ensure that our men and women in uniform have the tools and resources to meet and defeat our enemies. now is not the time to underfund the military. and to close, i thank each of you for your service. i look forward to hearing from you today, and thank you, madam chair. i yield back. >> thank you, ms. granger. gentlemen, your full written testimony will be placed in the record. members have lots of questions, as can you well imagine. so feel free to give summarized form of your statements. secretary austin, the floor is yours. >> well, good morning, chair mccollum, ranking member cal vert, ranking member grarng and aumt distinguished members of the committee. thank you for the chance to testify today in support of the president's budget request for fiscal year 2023. it's great to be here with general milley who's been an outstanding partner. i'm also pleased to be here with our comptroller under secretary mike mccord. we're still focussed on three key priorities at the department of defense. defending our nation, taking care of our people and succeeding through teamwork. and our budget request helps us meet each of those priorities. our budget request seeks more than $56 billion for air power platforms and systems and more than $40 billion to maintain our dominance at sea, including buying nine more battle force ships. and almost $13 billion to support and modernize our combat credible land forces. our budget request also supports modernization to maintain a safe and effective strategic term. none of these capabilities matter much without our people and their families, so we're seeking a 4.6% pay raise for military personnel and other special pay and benefits. we also plan to invest in outstanding and affordable child care and in the construction of on-base child development centers and in ensuring that all of our families can always put good and healthy food on the table. we're also deeply focussed on the terrible problem of suicide in the u.s. military. so we're increasing access to mental health care, expanding telehealth capacities and fighting the tired old stigmas against seeking help. with your support i've established an independent review committee to help us grapple with suicide and treat the unseen wounds that lead to it. at the same time, we're a still working hard to implement the recommendations of the independent review commission on sexual assault. we know that we have a long way to go to rid ourselves of the scourge. and our budget request seeks nearly $480 million to do just that. this is a leadership issue. last month i convened the first meeting of what's now the contact group on ukrainian security. it's a group of defense leaders from around the world committed to defending ukraine and an important way for nations of goodwill to help defend itself. now with the help of congress, the united states has been able to deliver a security assistance to ukraine with unprecedented speed and resolve. and that's made a huge difference on the ground. and president zelenskyy made that clear when i met with him in kyiv along with secretary of state blinken. since january '21, the united states has committed $4.5 billion in military assistance to ukraine, which includes the $150 million authorized by the president last friday. the most urgent goal is sending ukraine the capabilities they need the most. the coming weeks will be critical for ukraine. next week we expect to exhaust an ability. we want to continue to meet ukraine's requirements without interruption, and i deeply appreciate the vote yesterday and i hope the senate quickly follows. it will provide funds for additional draw down and more resources for the ukraine security assistance initiative for critical investments and covering the operational costs of bolstering nato's eastern flank. i want to thank all of you for your strong leadership toward our shared goal of helping ukraine defend itself and support nato. now let me briefly mention a few other efforts. as you know, we face countering china. we are going to enhance our force posture, our infrastructure and readiness in the indo-pacific. at the same time we must pay attention to threats that pay no heed. the largest r&d request this department has ever made. this includes $1 billion for artificial intelligence, $250 million for 5g. nearly $28 billion for space capabilities and another $11 billion to protect our networks and develop a cyber mission force. madam chair, this budget maintains our edge, but it does not take that edge for grant the. so i ask this committee to support the president's budget, and with the help of congress we will continue to defend this nation, take care of our people and support our allies and partners. thank you, and i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, mr. secretary. general milley, the floor is yours. >> chairman and ranking members, i am indeed privileged to be here alongside the secretary of defense and secretary mccord to represent the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and joint force. power troops are the best led, best equipped, most capable military force in the world, largely due to your continued support. alongside our allies and partners, at any given time, approximately 400,000 of us are currently standing watch in 155 countries and conducting operations every day that keep americans safe. currently, we are supporting our european allies and guarding nato's eastern flank. in the face of the unnecessary war of aggression by russia against the people of ukraine. and the assault on rules-based international order. in order to protect the homeland. in coordination with the and if necessary to fight against. >> to ensure we have the resource in order to be ready. we thank the congress for last fiscal year's level of military funding and look forward to your support for this year's budge its. the joint force will deliver modernization and readiness for the people of the united states at the fy 23 budget request of $773 billion. it will enable the modernization and transformation to meet the conditions of the operating viermts environment we are likely to see in 2030 and beyond. we will work diligently to ensure the resources the american people entrust to us are spent prudently in the best interests of the nation. in alignment, this budget delivers a ready, agile and capable force. we are currently witnessing the greatest threat to the peace and security of europe and prance perhaps the world in my 42 years. the war in ukraine is undermining global peace and security, the one that my parents and generations of americans fought so hard to defend. the islands in the pacific and beaches of normandy bore witness when nations seek power. despite this horrific assault on the institutions of freedom. it's hard to see. not only in the european continent but a peace that ensure global stability and international order for all nations to prosper in peace. we are also prepared and need to sustain our capabilities in the asia pacific region. we must maintain competitive match in all of the domains of war, space, cyber, land, sea and air. the united states of america is at a very critical and historic geostrategic inflection point. we need to pursue a clear-eyed strategy of maintain being the peace for the unambiguous capability of strength relative to china and russia. this requires that we simultaneously maintain current readiness and modernize for the future. if we do not do that, then we risking the security of future generations, and i believe their this budget is a major step in that direction. >> thank you. i have three questions and succinct answers. i want to be a good steward of time for my colleagues here at the podium. yesterday president biden referred to combating inflation as his top domestic policy. would you please share with the committee, the fy 23 budget request and how it was built in the amount of program and cost, growth and how you worked inflation into that. secretary austin, if you'd start out with that and turn it over to mr. mccord at any point, please do so. >> well, thank you, chair mccollum, and i will provide some comments and i certainly will invite secretary mccord to make some comments as well. we built this budget based upon our national defense strategy, which we just released, as you know, in classified form. we were very diligent, careful to make sure that we went after the capabilities that we needed to support that strategy. and i'm confident that we were successful in doing that. and this budget provides us significant capabilities. and, again, as we match those capabilities to what's needed to be relevant in the work that we're pursuing in the indo-pacific and also in europe, i think that, again, this is a very healthy budget and provides a significant capability. we built the budget, we had to snap the chalk line at some point in time, as you always do when you build a budget. and at that point in time we made some key assumptions. and i'll let secretary mccord speak to that. >> mr. secretary? >> thank you. yes, as the secretary said, the first line of effort of course was building the budget to support the strategy and implement the strategy, but parallel with that, i was conducting the team on what inflation was doing in calendar year '21. we came in with the assumption that the gdp we used would be about 2. we basically doubled it to 4, 3.9% as we built that price increase into '23 and going forward. if you look at the last six months of data that we didn't have then but do have now, we were at 5. we did the best we could with the information we had. we recognize things have changed a little since then. as i described in my rollout briefly when the budget came out, we put about $14 billion a year additional pricing increase into each year of our five-year plan for goods and services, another $6 billion for higher compensation, so about $20 billion per year from last year's plan to this year's plan, just for the pricing increase on top of the strategy-driven choices. >> thank you for that. so it's inflation as i said the president is focussed on combating it. and i know you will work diligently with both sides of the aisle as well as our staff as we move forward, if we have any inflation issues that need to be addressed. >> but thank you for that answer. the run up to the russian invasion of ukraine, the biden administration engaged in an unprecedented campaign to dee classify intelligence, one i fully supported, knowing what i would being briefed on and what i thought the american public and the world shou