Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley appeared before the House and Senate Armed Services committees this week.
The top defense officials in hearings on Tuesday and Thursday faced a barrage of questions about the defense budget and its lack of accounting for current inflation levels, Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine, and the looming threat of China. The hearings concerned the fiscal 2023 budget request of $773 billion for the Defense Department, but lawmakers peppered the officials with questions about current events as well.
Austin acknowledged on Tuesday in front of the House committee that the budget was written before inflation hit its highest rate in 40 years in the gauge favored by the Federal Reserve at the end of last month, though he and Milley have maintained that it’s enough to get the job done.
FORMER MARIUPOL RESIDENT ‘CAN’T DESCRIBE THE HORROR’ SHE WITNESSED IN UKRAINE
“This is a very robust budget that we’ve asked for, and I think, ranking member Rodgers, that we can address our needs with what’s in this budget,” Austin stated. “And clearly, when we snapped the chalk line, when we built the budget, inflation was at a different point. But this budget gives us the capability to go after that types of things that we believe we need to support our strategy.”
DOD Comptroller Michael McCord, who was also on the Hill with Milley and Austin, noted that the Department of Defense does not use the Consumer Price Index. He also acknowledged that his staff had seen a 4% jump in the past year and based the budget on that number.
Prior to the budget’s release, Republicans preemptively called on the Biden administration to ensure that the budget include a 5% bump over the inflation-adjusted FY 2022 enacted level, but the actual proposal included only an increase of 1.5% when adjusting for inflation.
The two defense officials were also questioned about U.S. aid to Ukraine amid the fight for independence from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Austin acknowledged that the Russian military leaders have not responded to “frequent” attempts for communication from himself and Milley.
Austin also disclosed for the first time that there are some Ukrainian forces in the United States learning how to use Switchblade drones, which they received as a part of the administration’s recent $800 million military aid package.
“We took the opportunity, having them still in the country, to give them a couple of days’ worth of training on the Switchblade,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed a day later. “An individual could be suitably trained on how to use the Switchblade drone in about two days or so.”
The lawmakers also asked the defense officials about attempts to deter Putin from invading, but Milley said in his belief, the only way to do that would have been to commit militarily.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I think that with respect to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it’s been a long-standing objective of Putin, and candidly, short of the commitment of U.S. military forces into Ukraine proper, I’m not sure he was deterrable,” the chairman explained. “We are now facing two global powers: China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities, both who intend to fundamentally change the rules-based current global order,” Milley added. “We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable.”
He later described the current global climate as one in which the “potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing.”
