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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today led a hearing to receive testimony from the Pentagon’s senior leaders on the department’s fiscal year 2026 budget.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Wicker praised President Trump’s “peace through strength” leadership and Secretary Hegseth’s achievements in implementing that agenda at the Pentagon. The chairman also noted that maintaining the national defense budget at $893 billion, even with an additive $150 billion from defense reconciliation, would result in United States military spending falling far below 3 percent of GDP by 2029.

Read Chairman Wicker’s hearing opening statement as delivered.

The committee convenes this morning to hear testimony concerning the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request. I welcome Secretary Hegseth, Chairman Caine, and Acting Comptroller MacDonnell.

As we review the past five months, the president and the Department of Defense have much to be proud of. The administration has largely succeeded in refocusing the Pentagon on warfighting.  Our recruitment numbers have dramatically improved.  That is a very important achievement and one we will continue to celebrate.

The U.S. military has played a significant supporting role in the president’s wholesale success at our southern border.  He has achieved operational control over the situation – a position the vast majority of Americans support.

In Operation Rough Rider, the president imposed costs on the Houthis.  The operation was well executed by our service members, and it appears to have achieved its stated objectives for now.  Similarly, the president has relentlessly struck al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists.  Those strikes have helped to open up space for diplomatic breakthroughs in Syria, and they have prevented significant external attacks that could have emanated from Somalia.

Unfortunately, the Axis of Aggressors is resilient.  It is hell-bent on challenging American global leadership.

It is clearer than ever that Vladimir Putin is uninterested in President Trump’s and President Zelenskyy’s offers for real peace negotiations.  The Europeans are heeding the president’s call to re-arm, but we are in a tenuous period: A precipitate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Europe could undo all that progress.

In Asia, the Chinese Communist Party continues its campaign of aggression against its neighbors and still displays open ambitions to retake Taiwan.  Secretary Hegseth recently made this crucial point in an important speech in Shangri-La. He said, “China seeks to become a hegemonic power in Asia.”  He is right.  China intends to use military force to achieve Xi Jinping’s goals.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Ayatollah is hiding as his regime crumbles.  He still refusing to negotiate.

In short, this is the most dangerous national security moment since World War II.  Unconstrained, aggressive dictators are on the move.  And, importantly, the character of warfare is rapidly changing.  That is a dangerous combination. We cannot have an American-led Golden Age of peace and prosperity if we fail to navigate these historic security challenges.

President Trump is actively working to protect American interests against four main adversaries: Xi Jinping and his Chinese Communist Party, Vladimir Putin’s militarized Russia, Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, and the Ayatollah’s religious fanatics, including his web of terrorists. Our commander-in-chief deserves a military capable of maintaining deterrence and applying force when necessary to protect U.S. interests – as he has done in Yemen.  I regret to say that this fiscal year 2026 budget request will not deliver that military.

When Secretary Hegseth testified before this committee in his confirmation hearing, he made the correct point that spending less than 3 percent of GDP on defense would be, and I quote, “very dangerous.” What we have in front of us is an inadequate budget request with precious little detail and no follow-on data about fiscal years 2027, 2028, or 2029. We must assume – and, in fact, we have heard – that OMB intends to maintain defense spending at $893 billion across the four years of this administration.  Even with a one-time $150 billion reconciliation infusion, this would leave us at 2.65 percent of GDP by 2029 – below the 3% of GDP, and well below the 5% of GDP that we really really need. Clearly, such a budget plan would allow the military balance to continue – as it has been, to tilt away from the United States and toward Communist China. Communist China has increased its budget by over 7% each year for the past decade.

I know the secretary fought for a stronger fiscal year 2026 discretionary request, but we need to acknowledge that a flat fiscal year 2026 budget is what OMB delivered.  I expect we will spend today reviewing the numerous significant holes in this request – gaps that will make it much more difficult for President Trump to equip our service members and for his advisors to develop credible military options.

Across the budget, we see significant holes: shipbuilding, tactical fighters, basic maintenance money, and more – all insufficient.  The budget seems to be written as if there are many items in the reconciliation package that simply are not in that bill.  This is confusing, because the text of the reconciliation bill has been public for quite some time. Chairman Rogers, of the House, and I worked closely with the executive branch on the contents of the package.  This budget threatens to undermine the good work we have done together on that bill, and it leads me to question whether some officials in the administration plan to ignore congressional intent.

I believe ignoring congressional intent would be a wrong-headed decision for the United States of America. We all work for the American people and share largely identical goals when it comes to deterring Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and other threats.  We need to work much more closely together on investment strategies and actions necessary to rebuild our industrial base.  The president and the Congress want action on reindustrialization.  We want to rebuild the Arsenal of Democracy.  We need action on industrial base integration, streamlined weapons sales, and cooperation with our allies and partners.  We agree on fundamentally changing the way the DOD budgets and handles acquisition.  Now, we need to agree on providing the men and women of the Department of Defense with the resources they need to do their jobs. We have no time to waste, and we must commit to continued collaboration now.