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>> the hearing of the senate appropriations committee will please come to order. we are here today to discuss the u.s./china relationship the investments we need to keep our nation secure, competitive and

maintain our leadership on the stage. let me make clear from the outset we talked about competing against china encountering chinese influence we are talking about competing against its governments. not the chinese people are the millions of chinese americans to help make our country great. i'm glad to have a secretary austin, blinken and were mondo here to discuss the all of government approach we need to meet this challenge. and this is our first full committee hearing i do want to thank vice chair collins as well as her chairs and ranking member chester, kuhn and moran for working with us on this topic that i know every one of our members cares about. like to thank all of my colleagues for their work in the recent weeks to jumpstart our appropriations process and hold more than 30 various substantive hearings on president biden's

budget request and critical issues. we have made important progress but i hope we can on track and mark up our bills soon. vice chair collins and i had hoped this thursday would be the first full mark up she and i are working very hard i will update all of our committee members on when we expect to have our first markup the june work. appropriations bills it is my goal in the big goal center call is to be marking up in the similar timeframe. must have its voice heard and this process. that and this committee has received critical input from nearly all 100 centers as we cracked our spending bills that our nation's needs for we owe it to our colleagues and our communities. most about our constituents to

put forward the shared priorities of this chamber and a slight bipartisan spending bills. this hearing offers a valuable opportunity to go in-depth on one of those shared priorities. making the investments our nation needs to stay ahead of the chinese government and other chinese competitors that are doing everything they can to try and overtake america economically, militarily, and on the world stage. as i have said throughout her subcommittee hearing keeping our country safe and competitive is not just about defense spending. keeping our country safe means investing in diplomacy and development to counter political and economic coercion. to promote stability, to stand up to autocrats. to support our allies in advance our global leadership. keeping our communities safe

means of funding to stop deadly sentinel from crossing our borders and dangerous cyber attacks that can decimate our infrastructure, our schools, our hospitals and more. means finding to make sure our supply chain for drugs, food, baby formula and more are safe, stable and not depend on the whims of beijing and others. when it comes to keeping our competitive edge on the world stage that means investing in american innovation with funding for r and d. advanced manufacturing we pass the chips and science act, clean energy jobs. cutting edge of bio research emerging technologies like ai and more. means investing in our economy every level supporting our farmers and small businesses maintain your ports temporaries other infrastructure we need for trade part strengthening and expanding our trade partnership so we can sell american goods across the world. protecting our intellectual

property and of course we cannot be competitive but the chinese government we are not investing in the backbone of our economy, our working families. we cannot compete without investing in in high-quality public schools for our kids. we cannot compete with that investing in higher education and workforce programs that help key industries find the workers that they need. we are spending the efforts to rebuild american manufacturing and so many other sectors of our economy if we refuse to tackle the childcare crisis that is keeping parents out of the workforce. not only are these issues important is our defense they are connected make no mistake, pressing forth aggressive modernization and ask manchin of military capabilities. as such investments we must make budget request the largest ever amount of funding for the

deterrence initiative. we need to ensure the military has the resources it needs china's military modernization logistical preparedness and cyber capabilities and more. however the secretary of defense has said repeatedly keeping our nation safe requires a whole of government approach. after all, how are weapons need chips. making them ourselves work with like-minded partners to secure our supply chain is a matter of national security. this is key. we need to make sure we have a regular appropriation process so every department including dod and plan for the year ahead. we cannot settle crs that frees our progress, results in year-over-year funding cuts seriously impair every single one of our agencies ability to fulfill their mission and move

our country forward for the chinese communist party is not governed by. they do not governed by cuts and we can't either. which is why it has been so important to me and i note senator collins and many others to make sure we meet this moment. do our job and get our bipartisan funding bills passed in a timely way. i am glad to say we have bipartisan agreement on the problem we are here to discuss today. keeping ahead of the chinese government and our competitors. based on her past bipartisan efforts i think we do have a shared understanding the solution here must be all of government approach. just a few months ago we passed an appropriations bill for this fiscal year that shows that congress can take this challenge seriously. senators shaheen and moran work together to increase funding for the national science foundation from the hubs program building

on our bipartisanship's to invest in rnd innovation strong workforce. dinner kuhn and graham, secured additional resources u.s. global leadership by growing our diplomatic footprint especially in the indo pacific come increasing funding for the indo pacific strategy in providing funding and flexibility for state, usaid the development finance corporation to address emerging strategic priorities. murphy and capitol made critical funding increases to improve detection and seizure of narcotics like fentanyl and elicit contraband. and to dismantle and disrupt transnational critical organizations. senators feinstein and kennedy science the department of energy and fund our national lab. we can develop clean energy solutions and improve advanced

manufacturing. our funding bill in the bipartisan infrastructure law include critical investments to support improvements to ensure our ports can ship goods around the world. i think it is safe to say he showed just a few months ago there is bipartisan support for across-the-board effort to counter the growing influence of chinese communist party. if we went to stay competitive. if we want to stay ahead we have to stay the course and build on those investments. which is why i find the approach house republicans have called for dangerous. after a year of bipartisan consensus for maintaining global leadership that tactic will throw in the towel to our competitors. but the chinese government our spot as the global superpower of the 21st century. house republicans are not just

proposing one year of cuts to diplomacy and workforce programs essentially everything that keeps us competitive. they are demanding spending caps that will tie our hands and lock it even more cuts over the next decade. i worry what is being proposed leads to a lost decade for america in a moment when we cannot afford it. let's be clear china's not debating whether to pay its debts were wreck its economy. china is not debating or cuts in cap the investment to keep it competitive. in china this not operate and see are the more we play with default teeter on the edge of government shutdown support more we prove china and our competitors are right helping them show the world it is their moment to over shadow our leadership helping them demonstrate their totalitarianism is stronger than democratic values here at home and around the world.

that is white so critical for the senate to make its voice heard on america's future. we have to show that is a bipartisan vision to strengthen our competitiveness and security by investing in american leadership across-the-board and bipartisan will to get it done. that is why been focused all of our subcommittee hearings. that's what i hope to hear about from our witnesses today. it's why what all this to continue our work markup bipartisan spending bill soon. the bottom line we find ourselves at a real turning point for this years government spending bills will determine whether or not we are prepared to compete with china. whether it will stay ahead while behind. we cannot close our eyes or plug our ears becomes a threat the chinese government poses. if that's a belt on the progress we have made. keep our country safe and

competitive invest in america's future. we decide what investments we do or don't make mistakes can be higher and they cannot be more serious. i want to thank everyone who is here today. will forward to hearing your testimony today and i'll turn over to vice chair collins for her opening statement. >> chair marie, thank you so much for holding this important hearing. before i turned to my formal remarks let me echo the chairs determination to keep proceeding with the appropriations process in a way that will avoid a late end of the year gigantic continuing resolution. continues to fund programs that do not need funding. that prevents new programs from starting. that makes it impossible for agencies to plan.

it also ends up because the taxpayer more money. so i share the chairs determination to keep proceeding. i look forward to beginning subcommittee markets in june. i would note we've gotten up to a very fast start. subcommittees on both sides of the aisle have worked together to have a series of hearings keep the budget requests. that's an essential start for this process. to our witnesses, i want to tell you i'm very much looking forward your testimony on how we can work together to strengthen u.s. security and competitiveness regarding china.

america's competition with china is an increasing challenge. but it is not a new one. china's economic successes with 3500 years of history. today the world faces an authoritarian government that seek to regain its past dismantlement international order created by the united states and our allies following world war ii. to be clear china's vision is to be the worlds of military and economic powerhouse. it is well on its way. today china has the world's largest navy, the world's largest army, and the world's largest economy by purchasing power parity. competition with china occurs in

every domain from the united nations to cyberspace africa. our focus with regard to our military competition with china must remain on deterrence which is defined by the strength of our readiness capacity and capability and that of our allies and partners. we must ask ourselves the pentagon and taiwan have the weapons you mentioned and manpower necessary to audibly deter china from using force to accomplish its objective. as secretary also knows from her hearing last week i believe the administration could do better in this regard. secretary blinken's challenge is getting our bilateral diplomatic relations with china on a stable a footing as possible.

given the inconsistent statements by the president on u.s. policy towards taiwan it would also be helpful at this secretary were to clarify today if there has been any change in the one china policy and the strategic ambiguity they are in. america is only as strong abroad as we are at home. including innovation and technology we can protect. i hope to date secretary were mondo will give us an update on efforts to prevent theft of the intellectual property to bolster u.s. leadership and advanced technologies and to impede china from exploiting american technologies to advance its military interests. finally as one department of

homeland security recently testified fentanyl crisis begins and ends in china. many precursor chemicals arithmetic in china and chinese organization launder the drug cartels money source the pill pressers that facilitate the distribution of this deadly poison. just last month expecting to find mugs they ordered. instead they found 14 kilograms that's enough to kill five times the population entire state of maine.

culp local law enforcement that sees the fentanyl undoubtedly saving many lives. addressing the fentanyl crisis must speak at the top of this administration's agenda with china. again i look forward to discussing these significant issues these witnesses this afternoon. i felt briefly introduce today's witnesses amid the testimony. i'm very pleased to welcome secretary of defense, secretary of state and tingling in secretary of commerce were mondo. i'm grateful to all three of her witnesses for the work they do every day keep our communities safe and help estate competitive. answer our questions but will not move to opening remarks secretary office and i'll begin with you. ask chair marie, vice chair collins, members of the committee thanks for the opportunity to testify about

america's strategic competition with the people's republic of china. i'm budget were joined by secretary blinken. we rely on each other every day because to compete and succeed we must use all of the tools of american power. i'm grateful to congress for recognizing the urgency of the china challenge in taking bipartisan action to mediate. i like to underscore five key points today out the department of defense is tackling the security challenge in lockstep with our partners across the administration, around the world and here in congress. refocusing the entire department on continuing to outpace the prc. prc is our only competitor with both the intent and increasingly the capacity to reshape the international system to suit its autocratic preferences.

beijing has increased bullying and provocations in the end the pacific. it has embarked upon historic buildup including space and cyberspace. it is either effeminate nor inevitable. we must face up to prc growing assertiveness. the departments mission is clear to deter aggression that threatens our national vital interest but we are investing more than ever any formidable fighting force in a more resilient force posture in the indo pacific. the deterrent initiative for an all-time high at $9.1 billion. living critical capabilities the more agile approaches to testing and acquisition but we are developing novel operational concepts for how we employ the joint force. national defense strategy because prc are facing

challenge. never shadowy from competition, we are working with both our rivals and our friends to strengthen the guardrails strategic competition work together as one team. that is my second point. closer cooperation with our colleagues in the apartment of state commerce and elsewhere. work with the department of state to prevent complex and break out in the first place. we protect the free and open trade lanes that drive the world economy. we are supporting the department of commerce eating all lamenting the chips in science act. technological advantages. third, they are determined to get the end the pacific free and open. most countries in the region

share a common vision of an open and inclusive end the pacific free of bullying and coercion. we are proud to stand together with them. will continue to strengthen the rules -based international order by making clear the folly of aggression and maintaining open lines of communication. fourth, the whole is working to deepen ties with the network of alliances but we are working with our friends run the endo pacific and the world for security cooperation and assistance. and through combined operations and exercises but we are working to develop innovative capabilities and deepen integrated deterrence. in recent months that strategy has produced historic results. in japan we are forward deployed more resilient and mobile assets. that includes our plans to deploy the 12 marine regiment. we are pursuing a major new force posture initiatives with australia.

two historic partnership will work with our australian and british allies to help forge a more stable balance of power in the endo pacific for generations. with our philippine allies by rotational access to for new locations under the enhanced defense cooperation agreement. meanwhile or expanding cooperation with south korea, india, taiwan, singapore and many others. we are deepening our ties in the quad and please your essays will soon provide significant additional security assistance to taiwan their presidential drawdown authority that congress authorized last year. this is partly long-standing commitment to upholding our obligations to taiwan's act and u.s. policy. to doing our part to maintain peace and stability in the taiwan strait. we will need to remain a reliable partner that brings me too my final points. the best way congress can insure

our strategic advantage is with on-time appropriation that supports the president's budget request. no amount of money can buy back the tide hope we get loose and were forced under continuing resolution. reducing findings fy 22 levels across the government would hamstring our ability to compete even if the defense department is exempted. we succeed as a team department of defense succeeds when interagency succeed for not shaping our military but america's entire strategy. unfortunate work with all of you to continue that proud tradition of u.s. global leadership rethinking medicine chair. >> thank you detroit austin. secretary blinken. >> turmeric, esther collins, ranking member. distinguished members of the appropriations committee. thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today. thank you for bringing us

altogether very pleased pleased as well to be a secretary austin, this administration is committed to leading a bipartisan whole of government china strategy that advances u.s. interests and values and delivers for the american people. on to your point, chert murray, we do stand at an inflection point post cold war era is over there is intense competition underway to shape what comes next. china represents the most cap sequential geopolitical challenges faced in the country with the intent and increasingly the capability to challenge our vision for a free, open, secure and prosperous international order. cannot dictate between the path. we cannot wait for china to change its we can't accept strength compete intensely for it to shape the environment around china and enhance our vision for we do not seek conflict from china or a new cold war we are not trying to

contain china. in fact in estates continues to have a comprehensive trade investment relationship with china as do most of our allies and partners. we are however resolutely for de- risking and diversifying, not decoupling. that means investing in her own capacities and a secure resilient supply chain. pushing for level playing field for our workers and companies defend against harmful freight trade practices ensuring allied technology is not used against us. we also committed to remove allies and partners to dance a free and open end the pacific but one that is at peace and grounded in respect for rules -based international order. we talk about free and open what we mean is this. we meet countries being free to choose their own path in their own partners the problems will be dealt with openly. coercively. rules will be reached transparently and applied fairly. will lawfully and freely across

the land and cyberspace. the world is watching how we and beijing manage this relationship. it is in our best strategic interest to do so responsibly underway that promote security and prosperity around the world. lester had an opportunity the conference of prc strategy to invest, align and compete. we have made historic at home clean the bipartisan chips in science act in place reduction act to strengthen our ability to compete. we have aligned our approach with key partners in europe and beyond. working methodically to elevate our engagement around the world and as a result greater convergence on how dull the challenges china poses than ever before. as we compete to work to maintain open lines of communication at all levels with the prc to avoid miscalculation

to prevent competition from veering into conflict. senior level engagements demonstrate that commitment. will purposefully engage china not as a saber or engagement in and of itself but always reflect our values and where we can find areas that are a mutual interest. that is what the world expects responsible powers. will push for progress on parties like the climate crisis, macroeconomic stability, public health will continue to push the need to curb the flow of precursors that exacerbate fentanyl and a crisis they pose. i very much appreciate the leadership of this committee on this most urgent challenge for the united states. we've heard from members of both parties on both sides of the hill that this unprecedented challenge requires an ambitious resource strategy. we very much agree. the president's proposed fy 24 state department budget aims to do. give us the resources and the

agility to advance our strategy predispositions the united states to up our game in the endo pacific. the frontline of our competition with china. the end the pacific is the most dynamic and fastest growing region in the world for 50% of the worlds population, 60% of global gdp. eight of the top 15 u.s. markets. supports 3 million jobs here in the united states provides nine jet it's driven about 75% of global economic growth over the past five years. china, as it happens invest the full 50% of its assistance economic and diplomatic resources in the endo pacific. our budget proposal will also further deepen our diplomatic footprint in the end the pacific new missions in the pacific islands to a search of new positions beyond including with a beijing -like, economics regional international organizations. beijing understands diplomacy is a critical tool.

it's owned diplomatic capacity its own diplomatic diplomatic budget last year has marked a poetic poster on the world than the united states. we are serious event demonstrate the same dick serious of purpose across the board. now we are not to many other countries choose between us and china. rather we aim to offer a more attractive choice. we start a race to the top so much the better it would meet everyone's benefit. our budget sets up to work with like-minded partners to strengthen our offer insurance relevant and responsive to needs and aspirations to people around the world. the budget includes $2 billion in new investments in high-quality sustainable infrastructure rather than a low-quality extractive process that we've mired in debt. invest to bind us to bolster and the pacific economies help the united states competed in areas where prc currently dominates

and keep rarities to the region including maritime security. clean energy, digital technology, under seas communication critical mining. and it contains over $7 billion to extend our economic engagement with freely associated states compacts of free association is a critical component national security strategy. altogether these funding streams ensure we a generational challenge of a strict long-term commitment issues that matter most to key countries of the region so the united states remains the partner of choice. during this decisive decade our efforts and investments together with our partners will determine whether we succeed in sharing for the system or whether prc can erode or replace the global rules and norms to guarantee peace, security and stability in the world. i am grateful for this committee's partnership to sustain the resources and policies required by this challenge and very much look

forward to taking your questions, thank you. >> thank you secretary blinken. that afternoon. good afternoon. chair murray, vice chair collins number city committee. it is my pleasure to be here with you to be glycolic said this opportunity for present bites physically or 2024 budget request. our work as a whole of government approach to protect america's national economic security promote our competitiveness in the face of the very real and increasingly from china. as has been said by my colleagues about senator murray consider colleagues conveying with china requires everyone on the field operating as a whole of government that requires the use of the full extent of her economic, diplomatic and military tools.

i'm so honored to be here with my colleagues in doing this work together. i look forward to working with you on a bipartisan basis with the senate as you develop additional building on the chips in science act to ensure we can't compete and secure our economic future. the commerce department partnership with you is leading the way in a bolder domestic agenda bring advanced manufacturing and critical industry back to the united states. and at the same time we have never been more aggressive in using our departments tools to address the threats from china. i want to say that again this commerce department under president biden's leadership has never been more aggressive and using our tools that we have been in the past for years but today it like to focus on three key areas of investment in the presidents budget budget request for the commerce department that will strengthen our ability to outcompete china.

first, this budget makes strategic budgets and innovation, manufacturing and supply chain. the fact of the matter is, without strong manufacturing on the jobs and innovation and technological leadership that flow from it we are at a disadvantage in the race to commercialize future technology. number semi- written statement but the budget supports funding for the national institute of standards and technology including manufacturing extension partnership and the international trade which will improve american manufacturing capabilities, strengthen our supply chain and improve our export capacity. additionally as been mentioned today, thanks the chips in science act the department is investing over $50 billion to strengthen, revitalize and reassure domestic semi conductor

capacity and critically research and development. these investments along the department new tech initiative which on friday it release its first opportunity -- funding opportunity will supercharge tech ecosystems all across this country are absolutely crucial investments in order for us to compete in outcompete china. second the budget includes funding for the bureau of industry and security continue activity that strengthen u.s. national security, foreign policy and our economy. through our strategic use of export control, including unprecedented restrictions imposed last october on china's access to advanced computing chips in semiconductor manufacturing equipment is preventing the use of u.s. technology that enable china's military modernization, the human rights abuses and other activities that are contrary to

the nine states security and foreign policy interests. currently there are over 2400 entities on the entity list that face restrictions on export control. china and russia represent the talk too. when we find conduct prohibited by or export controls we take action very, very proud to say last month commerce department now states to delegate civil penalty. the largest ever administrative penalty imposed against an american company selling hard disk drives without a license. third and finally the budget enables us to partner with our allies to advance our shared values shaped the strategic environment which china operates secretary blinken just said. the budget includes funding for ita to ensure u.s. businesses and commercial interests have

been economic coercion and export competitiveness worldwide. the budget calls for increased funding for u.s. economic engagement in the endo pacific. this budget request is absolutely critical national security. or with the reduced funding make no mistake about it we are putting both at risk as has been said china is doubling down on the competition and investments but we cannot afford to slow down now for i look forward to the discussion we are having today thank you for your time and effort. we would now begin around a five minute questions with our witnesses. i asked our colleagues to keep track of your time and stay within those five minutes. each of you has testified the

importance of investments the president budget proposal makes in your agencies. i want to drill down for a minute. genetically with the stakes are. if we do not pass bipartisan spending bills, we end up flatlining and not making any policy decisions this year under a continuing resolution to a cut non-defense spending back by billions, what can you say in this open setting about the worst impact and how far it will set us back in our ability to stay competitive with countries like china? i will begin with you. ask as i said before no amount of money will make up for lost time. prc is not waiting. our budget reflects our strategy went to great pains to link the budget request to strategy. without a budget it's difficult

to execute the strategy as designed. severe impacts to procurement and effector readiness and our ability to build out our infrastructure as well. specifically what that means, we could expect $9.7 billion impact. production rate increases. we will not be able to accomplish those. we will not be able to award the second contract with the class submarine. we won't be able to start the production on the class submarine. it will delay our ability to get the critical munitions we need for ourselves and our allies and partners as well. like tomahawk's, and mock 48

torpedoes just to name a few things and again the list is pretty extensive. >> thank you. secretary blinken. >> i want to say two things first if you look at this overall perspective before drilling down on china we do things on a bipartisan basis harmful prc influence. everything from humanitarian assistance to global food securities will be severely hindered in doing that. comes investments we need to make in security and upgrades physical and cyber leaving our personnel. leaving our facilities and cyber defense more. in this region with regard to china we have in the budget a

number of items that are critical in our judgment to be able to effectively counter china's growing influence in virtually every region of the world. it would reduce our efforts to engage and build the kinds of partnerships we need to push back to make sure it's remains the partner of choice. we have among many other things funding provided in the budget to make significant investments mining critical materials developed and secure communications and receives cables and secure cyberspace. we significantly hindered. beyond that the investments that we need to make and our own

personnel, expanding our admissions in the endo pacific as we are in the process of doing. making sure we attract and train the most effective talents when it comes to dealing with china. all of that would be hindered. finally it's hard to quantify this it would be sending a broader message of retreat at a time we need to be sending the opposite message around the world for. >> secretary? >> you hear me? commerce department is involved in both our offense of strategy which is to say investing in her defense of strategy three ways to be very significantly repaired go back to 2022 levels 125 fewer people on her 25 fewer

people to do and use checks wrap export control/we did 1154 countries. vestige are related to china with 105 fewer people can't do what we do mine actors in china. ita you have to cut at the time we would not be present in south america in the in the pacific. in the way we want to be. and finally as it relates to investments as you said senator marie we need to invest as federal government's smartest.artificial intelligence insider. we need to be invested in that. we knew of the best equivalent.

i'll stop there in the interest of time but is significant. >> thank you very much. >> thank you madam chair. secretary blinken, what specifically they are china from continuing to send to mexico the precursor ingredients and the pill process for fentanyl that eventually makes its way into the united states. >> thank you very much. step back for one second period in 2019 china agreed to schedule and tunnel. in fentanyl related substances. as more or less ended. the fabrication of precursor

chemicals. many if not all perfectly listed. illegally diverted to the production of fentanyl. often made in mexico and as you know shipped into the united states. we have been in every single engagement we have had with china pressing the issue in particular pressing china to take action to get control of the illicit diversion of precursors into fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. china's response has meant a number of things. including their view this is a demand problem for the united states while they scheduled fentanyl we have not's. this is an argument that they raised. we have also pressed them to not only do what they have already done but again to crack down on the diversion. in the absence of that we have

sanctioned chinese individuals in chinese entities that we have found taking part in this diversion. at the same time we are building an international to make this a global challenge in here is white in here's how this will affect china. but we are saying because our market has tragically become saturated, we are seeing criminal enterprises push to make new markets in other parts of the world. in europe and in asia. as a result the demand signal on china to take effective action i am convinced is going to grow and not just from us, from other parts of the world. china is going to have to decide if it was to be responsive to that demand signal whether it's going to continue to allow one way or another the diversion of these chemicals. we will continue to take resolute action wherever we find the diversion. at the same time you be better off helping us deal for.

>> we have that now? certainly providing the precursor it's now providing the pill presses that are used by the cartel. >> the only thing i would add is this is of course has to be comprehensive effort start of the actions were taking at home. the work on our border and the work were drunk with mexico which is vital and then the broader international community to include of course china. >> secretary austin, last year congress up to $1 billion existing dod weapons to taiwan, consistent with the taiwan relations act. you have testified the administration intends to exercise this authority. they were at press reports last week the administration was

contemplating 500 million-dollar package for taiwan. one of administration be requesting the necessary funding to backfill u.s. weapons, munitions that are provided to taiwan? as we have done with ukraine. so there is no net loss to the u.s. military capability as a result of the package under consideration by the administration. >> thanks a vice chair for it first about let me thank congress for what you have done to provide us with the authority to affect to run out that's critical and our efforts to provide taiwan what it means. for self-defense going forward. you are correct we are working on that initiative. we hope to have an action

forthcoming in the near term. we will absolutely need to have the appropriations to replace those things which we provide. so it vice chair will not hesitate to come forward and ask for what we need to make sure we maintain our stocks. >> thank you. >> thank you madam chair. thank you to each of you for being here. i have brought along with meat two maps i know you have seen before secretary austin there done by the department of defense britta broughton because i think it shows very clearly the challenge that we have. these are china's influence in the latin america and in africa. if you looked at the maroon color in latin america at central and south america

everything that isn't maroon all of those countries are members of the belt road initiative. twenty-one of 31 countries in central and south america. i was in the belt and wrote initiative. in africa it also shows the challenge that we have. now secretary blinken you said in your opening remarks the prc the people's republic of china more than we do. we cannot effectively compete if we do not have qualified confirmed investors in place. also for that multilateral bodies were china is busy building support while in many cases we do not have anyone serving. so i appreciate the bite administration has accelerated the nomination key nominations in recent weeks. we're still waiting on the appointment of special envoy and

a time administration does not nominate an ambassador to haiti or the republic for the just appointed to serve in italy which is of course welcome news but it's taken over two years to get there. i recognize the cold appears largely in the senate. i call on my colleagues particularly those people holding in mass ambassadorial nominations coming to the floor. we also do not have an ambassador to the arctic region were russia and china are looking to gain strategic footholds. we cannot get to union confirmed we are in the of a conflict in sudan. china is expanding their belt and rep initiatives china is seeking to make strategic investments were our nominees are being held on the senate floor. so, can you secretary blinken speak to how many

ambassadorships are currently open and pending before the senate? whether they are specific important ambassadorships we should be taking up as soon as possible because we have strategic interest at stake? >> editor, thank you for raising that. as i mentioned china now has a handful of more diplomatic posts around the world than we do. we have 173, they have roughly 180. each one of theirs has a fully accredited ambassador. we currently have 14 nominees on the floor. pending confirmation. many of whom have been in this process for a year or more. we have another 40 somewhere else in the process going through their hearings, evaluation by the committee. so we are acting at a deficit, at a disadvantage for a child is

not only able to be present in more places, as cap fully accredited investors in each of them. that makes a difference. they are terrific i've seen this time and again a foreign leader head of government, head of state will engage with one of our senate confirmed ambassadors. they'll be more reluctant to engage with someone who is there until an accredited ambassador can get there. guess he feels the vacuum, increasingly it is china. we are penalizing ourselves if we are not getting our full team on the field as quickly as possible. is not a serious way to compete. >> oh you say to those people i'm very concerned about the prc as part of our great power competition as we are looking at the challenges that we face.

i'm not one to vote for the ambassadors who are going to be there to help with that fight. and i believe that's probably every member of this body in both parties will take account of the impact of not having accredited ambassadors and every country that we need them. and to your i'm looking at your map. we know, we see china is active on every continent seeking to advance its influence. again if we are not there we are not competing. ask thank you, thank you madam chair. >> thank you centigram. >> thank you. if a letter from myself and senator coons i like to introduce into the record about what our subcommittee has done

to get the china problem. >> without objection. secretary austin, i've been telling my constituents in south carolina that if the fold in ukraine and let putin have his way of the ukraine china is more likely to invade taiwan do you agree that? >> i agree senator. not only china but will see other bad actors around the world and try to do the same. >> i could not agree with you more. how we deal with other bad actors in the world matters. do you believe our disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan embolden our enemies secretary austin? et cetera, as you know there are three things that happen because i don't have time for three things. do you believe it embolden our enemies if you don't, you have missed a lot because i don't senator. >> good even still out. secretary blinken, you said a couple of months ago that china

was on the verge of supplying lethal aid to russia. was at accurate when you said it? >> it was senator. we all agreed we went china not to help russia, right? here is an idea. one hundred u.s. senators recommended to you we declare russia state-sponsored terrorism to deter people like china for giving them a weapon. here we are months later and nothing has happened mr. secretary i like you a lot. you are never going to designate state-sponsored terrorism are you? >> never say never. >> i can pretty well say china sees all talk here. if you are really worried about china giving weapons to russia instead of picking up the phone and calling the chinese please don't do that why don't you get 100 u.s. senators to pass a law telling china if you give up one

bullet we are going to sanction you. >> can i add to that if i made please? tran has take into account. correction they been deterred? >> unprecedented sanctions and controls wielded against. >> you think making russia state-sponsored terrorism would not send a stronger single to china don't help the russians? >> is the longest we've had in used. but send a clear message for let's go to iran. his errata state-sponsored terrorism under u.s. law? madam secretary? >> yes i believe it is. >> there sanction to the hilt, right? >> yes. >> do you remember tehran's revenue went up 20% last month? >> i believe it's gone up because it's gone up 20% every month, why? because of china. so this idea we have a strong

china policy is a bunch of crab. some of the budget will the church and it's our will to take on people like china. i think we are in a real world of hurt. let's talk about the navy. the treatment criticize the house a budget proposal. i quite frankly understand some of your concerns. cr would be disastrous i agree. secretary austin, c and o of the navy said we needed 373 man ships and 150 unmanned ships to deal with the threats we face, are you aware of that? >> on where he said. >> you agree with that? >> i agree with the plan the navy has outlined. >> here's what the navy said for us to get through at 73 ships, but we need i think the navy is really important to deter china we would have to spend 5% over inflation to reach that goal. you or the fact the budget you propose to this committee spends

1.7% under inflation? >> i am. under current. >> are never going to get to three and a 73 ships if you've got to spend five or spent over inflation in the budget 7% below inflation. here's what the committee it needs to know but under the budget proposed by the president we go from 296 ships this year to 291 and fy 28. china has three to 40 ships by 2025 bill have 400 will project by 2030 they will have 440 ships. so we are not doing what we need to be doing to let china know deeper serious about playing in the backyard. so, this idea of countering china cannot be in a budget vacuum how many diplomats we have on the grounds. everything we have done in the last two years and my view has

been every bad actor more emboldened. i started with afghanistan. the iranians are making more money under sanctions not less. china is the biggest reason for not doing a thing about it. we have a chance in a bipartisan fashion to send a signal before it is too late. when it comes to ukraine, i appreciate this committee's bipartisan action. i got to tell you right now at the department of defense does not provide the icc of the evidence necessary to prosecute russians and you are holding it up we are sending yet another signal. we are all talk when it comes to bad actors. you may be pleased with what you are doing but i am not. et cetera kuhn. >> thank you chair marie thank you for the forbearance of my colleagues. given my timing and demand. thank you to our witnesses in front of us having the secretary

of defense, secretary of state, secretary jointly appear in front of us. that is a reinforcement for a need for a joint approach to reinforcing u.s. national security, our diplomacy, developer, economic competitiveness in the face of the very real challenge of the prc. i will at the outset repeat will be heard in the chair. which is that we cannot default. we cannot fail to appropriate.

and its investing billions in development projects with key partners around the globe. speak if you will do to what authorities and resources do they need to maximize the impact to meet this moment and what else are you proposing in the budget to address these critical challenges of engagement to push back on chinese investment globally? >> thank you very much, senator and before i get to that for the

record, we have sanctions about 40 different entities for oil trade of the 40 that we've sanctioned only 17 were chinese. with regards to these investments, senator, i couldn't go to more and it's vital to be able to compete and compete effectively and in particular, because this is our comparative advantage to catalyze private sector investment. we are not going to match china dollar for dollar the way we do it is by catalyzing private sector investment. the dfc is one of the critical vehicles for doing that. what we proposed in the budget is a mandatory allocation for the dfc in addition to its regular budget that would allow us to create a new fund that would boost equity investments and viable development to leverage private capital and also to counter some of the predatory lending we see coming from china.

this would in a number of ways to support the kind of projects that both people want and need and that advance our position strategically. medical mining and reprocessing, wireless networks, ports, roads, rails, medical manufacturing different parts of the world water and sanitation. i will give you one example of something in fy 22 we have an investment of just $30 million that is allowing us to produce critical mineral mining platforms to support nickel and cobalt mining in brazil, something that is essential to the technology of the century. in addition the african investment front so all we are saying is we need to make sure that they are well capitalized and also have the flexibilities particularly to make equity investments. this is what our partners are looking for.

>> thank you for your leadership as it relates. i agree with everything the secretary has said. our ability to counter china requires us to show up in embassies and on the ground with money and that includes u.s. private capital. so i would argue it plays an important role more than it ever has. it is as the secretary said, critical minerals but also basic infrastructure. basic investments to infrastructure, roads and bridges, clean energy, clean infrastructure and they can provide concessionary finance for example to draw forward a great deal of private capital. i can tell you this in all my travel, and i will be going this summer to africa. in all my travel the united states is the source of choice and working with us will help us

to show up with the capital that is so sorely needed. >> thank you. >> senator moran. >> senator collins, thank you. as secretaries, thank you for being here. let me start with the secretary, welcome back. you and i have had a chance to see some aviation and aerospace activities in our country. the corporation recently testified at that for each three of the aviation categories, military commercial and general, the united states is ahead of china and competitive with or better than the rest of the world. however, and i quote, china continues to close the gap with the united states. aviation aerospace plays a critical role in the economic and national security in light of continuing closing the gap in the advances in the field and the chinese communist party's

explicit attention to challenge the u.s. dominance what can policymakers do to ensure that they remain a global leader in aviation aerospace and innovation that is associated with both? >> thank you for your question. there are a number of things we can do but one thing in particular that i will point to the department of commerce that we are doing is investing in technical hubs. there are regions all around the country that have expertise in aviation skills, rmd, talent, et cetera. not necessarily in new york city and san francisco and so by investing in the tech hubs all across america and identifying areas of excellence including in aerospace and aviation making those investments that draw together the public sector and private sector research universities that is the way we stay ahead of china investing in r&d and every note and cranny of the country to tap into the full

extent of our innovation and talent and investing in our workforce. >> secretary austin, anything you would add in regards to the value of technology and capabilities in aerospace and aviation generally as a manufacturing component and research component what does it mean to the national defense? >> i absolutely agree with of the secretary and that's why you see us asking to invest some $146 billion. the largest request for research and development that we've ever made and you also see us continuing to invest in our air forces. we are asking for some $60 billion plus to make sure that we maintain a dominant air force. if you look at things that we are doing with respect to making sure that we maintain that edge, i think it's clear evidence of

our focus on making sure that we remain out front and we go after the capabilities that are necessary to support the concepts so we will continue to do that. i think we are investing in the right thing and we appreciated congresses support. >> during your appropriations subcommittee hearing i asked you about trade and particularly the updated agreement. i would highlight this as well for the secretary. your answer, i don't know if you were cavalier in your answer but, it was a good agreement but we moved on since then. the world has changed. and i took those words and researched what many countries are saying. in fact they are asking us to engage in this trade agreement.

countries in the south pacific, australia for example, thailand. and i would highlight again for both of you the importance of trade. we need the relationships that perhaps you described using diplomacy into diplomats and state department officials in relationships, but in my view, one of the pillars that is missing in this administration's effort to connect the rest of the world in the united states together is trade agreements which we are not negotiating and not pursuing and i think it's a mistake for our country's economy, and i think it's a mistake for the country's national security. the rest of the world needs to see economic benefits by being aligned and i can tell you china does an excellent job of demonstrating at least upfront temporarily what an ally and a supporter they are of other countries economies. >> i very much appreciate your

perspective let me say very quickly two things. first, some of the investments that we are talking about and the vehicles for those investments are financed in the president's budget are actually critical to delivering what people are looking for and need country after country and doing it in a way as i said that is a race to the top, not the bottom that we see with investments coming from china. second we are very focused on putting in place and implementing the indo pacific economic framework. we have 14 countries that have signed on to do that. it includes trade facilitation with regards to digital trade. it includes the supply chain diversification and resilience. it includes work on the clean economy that many of the countries are looking for including the financing development of such an economy, and it includes a pillar on combating corruption and other things that corrode the efforts

to actually make trade investment work. we found great enthusiasm for that among the countries that signed on as i said there are now 14 and we are working overtime to actually put that on the rails and make it work. >> to engage and enter that agreement, and great britain has entered as well. other countries are finding the value that i wish we would see. >> senator tester. >> thank you, senator collins and i want to thank all of you for being here today. we have heard, and we know some of the things china is doing with their military they are doing money manipulation to the precursors of fentanyl, cyber attacks, harmful trade policies, opposition to the open pacific. senator shaheen talked about the belt and roads initiative and what they've done with

technology theft. on the other side of the equation we've got the united states of america the greatest country on earth and folks that came before us that made good decisions. unfortunately we are not in that boat. the folks in congress forget what the mission is. we are dealing with a debt ceiling on money we've spent that will calls us to go into a depression if not remedied. we could even lose the reserve currency. we are dealing with the individuals officers and i don't have to talk about how negative that is. senator shaheen talked about the ambassadors held on the floor and we've got a situation where we are on the cusp of going to acr regina the chairman at a ranking member of the committee despise as do i but if we don't get our act together that is exactly where we are headed. that doesn't make us stronger that makes china stronger and it's not either of you three sitting there it's on the united states congress. so we need to wake up because this is a real threat.

as secretary austin, i want to ask about weapons modernization. how does the weapon modernization compared to china's efforts with weapon modernization? >> thanks, senator. first of all let me tell you that i truly maintain and believe that we have a competitive edge and we will work to maintain that competitive edge going forward. so that's why you see us looking to invest not only in the research and development but also $60 billion to maintain the air force that we believe we need. another 48 billion to invest in maintaining the world's greatest maybe and i will bet on our navy versus the other navy any day of the week. and to invest in hypersonic's so we are pushing hard to make sure that we are growing up in the right capabilities that will help us maintain the edge in the

future. now and in the future. that's why we are asking you for the budget that we are asking for. >> are there any areas that you would talk about in this type of session where you would say we are behind a niece modernization standpoint? >> i would like to have a conversation in a secure -- >> i've heard directly from folks in montana about the impression the chinese is buying land in our great state. we see the reports out of north dakota. it's actually more even about the national security. i know this isn't an easy nut to crack as there's 30 bills out there with foreign ownership of land, china, russia, iran, north korea.

i guess the general question is are you guys in any of your capacities and if it's not within, seeing any evidence of chinese buying land and are they doing it themselves or through shell companies i will start with you, sec. >> senator, to put this in perspective, and again not my area of expertise but based on the facts as i believe them to be i think about 3% of the farmland of that 3%, a very small percentage is owned by chinese individuals were chinese entities, which doesn't mean there is not an issue because depending for example on where that farmland happens to be situated there may be an issue but i want to put it in perspective and we are well aware of a number of bills of both federal and state that would place restrictions with one kind or another on the

ownership to include chinese ownership of agricultural land. the committee on foreign investment looks as you know at anything that might involve a strategic investment that could pose a threat to our security. needless to say we look very carefully at any investment from anywhere but notably from china that could pose a threat in one way or another. >> i'm out of time if you could respond to this in writing we have a quick response i would just say this there's a number of bills out there and it's not quantity, its quality and if it's the wrong site we are in trouble. thank you all very much. >> thank you. >> thank you madam chair and vice chair and thank you all for being here with us today. a secretary, i heard your response to senator collins question on fentanyl.

i come from the state that has the largest amount of overdose deaths per capita than any other state in the union and a lot of it is directly attributable to fentanyl. your answer was highly inefficient because i don't have the impression that we are pressing hard enough. we were in mexico about a month ago talking to the president to try to help with that. things going on at the border. we all know that this drug is flowing across our southern border. can you give me a better answer here and give us some hope that we can really clam down on this illicit killer of the drug. >> let me be very clear that i could not agree with you more on the imperative of the challenge. as you know very well, this is the number one killer of americans age 14 to 29. and as we know we've also seized enough fentanyl to kill every

single american. that what is what we've seized. there is a lot more out there. so this is at the very top of the list. what i was trying to suggest earlier is that we have to deal with this and we are across the entire spectrum of the issue by which, i mean, there's obviously work we are doing that is a very significant in terms of what's happening here at home including demand, treatment, recovery. that is a critical component. i was in denver visiting the police department, the cities, be brought together 250 mayors from across the hemisphere. one of the things we focused on was fentanyl synthetic opioids because this is a problem that is coming to them as it's already come to us. the border is obviously critically important. the most important thing is 95% of the fentanyl that is coming to the united states from across the border is through legal ports of entry that means the technology among other things we need to get to the border, which we are doing is a critical

component. mexico you couldn't be more right a vital necessary partner in this. i spent many hours on this issue and i would say we've seen the glass half-full and half-empty. we saw record levels of seizures of fentanyl by mexican authorities last year and far more people dedicated to try to interdict to break up the labs et cetera. we now have a cooperation agreement with them that not just goes to law enforcement but the regulatory agency. but clearly more effort and resources need to be dedicated. finally the broad picture. as we were discussing before, the critical piece of this right now is the diversion of illicit precursors.

right now i can say that without fear of contradiction every single engagement that i have had with a chinese counterpart -- >> last engagement was in munich a couple of months ago. every official that we have that's engaged including officials in my department this is at the top of the agenda so we have one or two ways this is going to work. either we are going to elicit a general cooperation and as i said earlier there's going to be a growing global demand for that cooperation because the problem started here as you know it is moving around the world so we are building as you will see in a few weeks a coalition of countries coming together to work together on dealing with synthetic opioids notably fentanyl so that demand signal is going to grow stronger and stronger in the absence though of the cooperation we have already sanctioned number of

chinese enterprises and entities engaging in the transfer of precursors for fentanyl. >> we know if we can stop the ingredients from getting to where they are produced much less i didn't realize china is now sending into mexico, if you look at methamphetamine when it first came onto the drug scene probably 20 years ago, what did the state government do? they stopped the flow of sudafed. you had to get it behind the counter because that is one of the ingredients and guess what, it will hurt. if you can get rid of the ingredients, you can make a huge difference here. so, whatever we can do i think it's just horrifying what we see happening. i understand we need to work on prevention. that's stuff we can do and will do but i will press you because this is a national disaster.

>> thank you chair and to all the secretaries for being here. the prc remains the world's worst environment for internet freedom given its global influence into the repressive use of technology and the relatively inexpensive product there is concern that this could further increase the number of countries without a free internet. how important are tools like the open technology fund that helps create circumvention tools and pushing free access? >> a number of things are critical and that's one of them making sure we are able to get to the hands of people, organizations around the world the tools that we have and that are available to circumvent efforts to stifle their ability to communicate. something by the way that we've done and iran since the protests

broke out and the efforts were made to crack down on the ability to communicate so these are vital tools but there's an even bigger picture that i think is vital and that is the competition to see who is going to actually build the communication networks of the future as well as the present. we have across the board countries that are investing in a 5g. we want to make sure that we use as we call it in this business trusted vendors. our diplomacy has been intensely engaged in working with countries to do that. part of that is getting countries to adopt screening mechanisms. we've had success getting countries to do just about to make sure they have the tools to detect someone who's trying to make an investment including and incritical technologies and communication infrastructure whether that is someone or an entity they can trust us at the macro picture is important and individual technologies we can

help get into the hands of people to circumvent the suppression. >> a couple of legislative matters i want you to comment on, please. i will just give them to you both. they are not particularly related. how important would it be if we were able to ratify and as the ambassador hopefully lands these negotiations with our brothers and sisters in the pacific island i wonder if you can speak to the importance of implementing legislation and follow-through. >> we've made very significant progress in getting and expanding and extending these agreements. they are vital to our indo pacific strategy, vital to the overall strategy. as you know very well, these island nations in the north pacific are basically want to

stand between us and the further regions of the pacific. we have long-standing agreements with them and it would be vital to make sure having negotiated to their extension that we provide the resources necessary to do that. in my judgment, not being a part of that is a self-inflicted wound. we see again and again country after country in southeast asia looking to, pointing to their maritime rights as opposed to the rights that china is asserting that bear no relationship to the law. when we point this out and call out of china for making the maritime claims. nonetheless it would be tremendously helpful.

>> can you take those questions as well? >> i agree with the secretary that these are partners that are important to us as you know, senator, a significant portion of the residents observed or are serving in the military so they are very supportive and where they are in terms of geography is absolutely critical. so, we are leaning into this and helping the secretaries people do everything we can as a team to get this across the goal line but to the point that he made is i think it is absolutely critical and i agree that we live by the law of the sea, so

it would make sense to ratify. >> thank you. >> senator kennedy. >> thank you, madam chair. and thank you all for being here. have you ever visited any of the 15 pacific island nation states? >> i have, yes. >> they are wonderful people aren't they? >> i would agree. >> and they have well-placed pride in their countries, do they not? >> they do. >> can we agree that these 15 independent pacific island nation states are just that, they are independent countries, not just dots that some world

leaders see out of their plane windows when they are traveling to meetings elsewhere? >> that is correct. >> and can we agree that china is making a concerted effort to try to bring these independent countries within the communist party of china? >> we can. >> can we agree that america should have a deeper, strike that, let me rephrase that, mr. secretary. putting china aside, do you agree with me that it is the prudent and moral thing to do to have deeper engagement with our

fellow countries in the pacific particularly in terms of trade and investment? >> very much so, senator, yes. >> would you support showing the 15 pacific island nation states the respect and dignity that they deserve by creating an ambassadorship just for these 15 pacific island nation states to be appointed by the president of the united states and confirmed by the united states senate? >> it's something we are looking at but let me just put this in context as you rightly said these are independent and sovereigncountries which is exay we have been engaged in a very intense effort to get embassies and have ambassadors and more of these countries and as you know right now we've opened an embassy in the solomon islands and one in tomko. we have one pending and we are

doing the same things having these bilateral ambassadors is critical and as you also know -- >> mr. sec. can i interrupt you, i'm sorry but we have limited time and i have followed the efforts of the biden administration in this regard. but what i'm talking about is pointing and not relying on other invoice or ambassadors. i'm talking about creating a new ambassadorship for the 15 pacific island nation states appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate who would spend her or his time traveling to all of the island states talking about trade investment and listening. >> i think it is important that we continue to engage these countries independently given

their independence but to your point and i agree this is important we have appointed to the pacific island this is the main body as you know that brings all the islands together. we appointed someone that's a deeply experienced ambassador. >> it is an appointment by the secretary of state. >> so a new president could come in and say we don't want to do this anymore, could he or she not? >> that is correct. >> i'm talking about if the countries are so important, and i think they are and i think i've heard you say they are, let me ask you again would you support creating an ambassador status i don't care what you call it but it would be an ambassador level status appointed by the president and confirmed by the united states senate what's wrong with that? >> i would say first the former ambassador to several of these countries and affect fulfills

that function so that's important. >> but he's not in ambassador he's appointed by a president. i'm talking about making this permanent. >> a future president could decide not to appoint. >> why wouldn't you want to embed this at all and give the pacific island countries the respect they deserve? >> i would be happy to pursue this with you -- >> i'm very happy to look at it. >> i really am not criticizing you or your team i just think we haven't given these countries the respect they deserve and ate best way to do that would be to give them a permanent ambassador. >> i think we should pursue this conversation. i welcome doing that. >> i'm going to put you down as a yes. >> to talk about it, absolutely. >> thank you. senator baldwin.

>> thank you madam chair and ranking member for convening this important hearing and thank you to our secretaries for being here today. i want to thank you for including in your testimony the importance of the text hub program and you've also responded to a number of questions referencing the importance of that program and i certainly appreciate your leadership in the department of commerce. as a member of both the commerce committee and the misappropriations committee, i work both on the authorization side and the funding side of the regional hub program and our committee delivered and an initial $500 million investment to get it started so i look forward to working with you and my colleagues on the committee to develop in more geographically diverse parts of the country which i agree is

needed to ensure our economy can compete with china. fiscal year 24 congress needs to deliver additional funding for the program to help ensure u.s. global economic and technological leadership. the only way we can get this done is bypassing robust bipartisan appropriations bills in a timely manner. about my question for you is on a different priority under your purview at commerce and that is trade enforcement. as secretary, you are a member of the forced labor enforcement task force which was established by the forced labor prevention act. that legislation also specifically tasks the secretary of commerce along with the director of national intelligence with consulting on the development of a strategy to

ensure u.s. supply chains are free of forced labor in china. so, mr. secretary, could you both explain the nature of that undertaking but also importantly, the impact that reduced funding or even a continuing resolution would have on the important work being done at commerce to combat forced labor in china? >> thank you, senator rand good afternoon. first, very briefly i do want to reiterate that it authorizes a 10 billion-dollar investment which i think is about right. we are hard at work and going to run a pilot program. i believe it will be spectacular. however as you correctly say.

we take trade enforcement incredibly seriously. china doesn't play by the same rules in trade. they brought the market with heavily subsidized goods and undercut the prizes and the industry and if you say there's also forced labor in the supply chain. we should have zero tolerance of forced labor and not to supply chain. right now one of the things we do at the commerce department is at any given time we are enforcing between six and 700 countervailing duties, many of which relate to china's unfair practices. any cut in our funding would

massively inhibit the ability to do that. we barely have enough people to do it now and that would affect the issue but also anything else that china is doing to undercut any of our industries. >> thank you. secretary austin in fiscal year 2023, the committee supported the establishment of an industrial-based expansion and shipyard infrastructure initiative specific to the constellation class a ship that is currently being built in wisconsin. this program will now be supported by the workforce development initiative that will equip the workers with a specialized skill to require it to support the domestic shipbuilding base as well as keep the navy on track to expand the fleet. this year i'm again advocating for this program to continue to receive funding because we know that a sustained investment is critical to the health and

stability of our defense industry. again, the only way we will get this done is bypassing robust bipartisan bills on time. secretary austin, can you speak to how the workforce and vestments that we have been funding like this program keep the nation competitive and secure? >> it goes without saying, senator, thanks for the question. the workforce is absolutely critical. we have our industrial base is one of our core strengths and central to that core strength is the workforce and as we've been challenged over the years being able to rapidly expand capacity capabilities, some of those challenges are workforce challenges, so everything that we can do to train and in power our workforce i think is helpful. it's critical so i appreciate

all that you're doing. i think it's the right thing and i say we do more in that regard. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you all for being here. we appreciate all your great work. the secretary, there's growing concern about the lack of communication between the u.s. and china. i believe you change the world through personal relationships and also de-escalate things as they occur. visiting with some of our allies as we get out and about there is concern from them that again china and the united states are not communicating as well as we should. can you talk a little bit about that and what steps you take to reach out to your chinese counterparts? >> thank you, senator. when president biden and she met at the end of last year one of the things they agreed on is the

importance of having these lines of communications. at the very least so that we put a floor under the relationship or some guardrails on it. they call it a safety net, pick your terminology but it's important because as we've all talked about today, we are engaged in an intense competition across many areas but it's not in our interest for that to go into conflict we can do anything to avoid that and we are determined to do that. that starts with communication so i couldn't agree more. i think we've shown recently that there is more senior level engagement with china most recently our ambassador in beijing and also the national security advisor jake sullivan meeting with his chinese counterparts over a couple of days in europe and that's important because what we believe would be the right course is to now see more senior

level engagement in a sustained way across our administration and affairs precisely so that we can make sure at the very least we are talking to each other, that we are making very clear what we stand for, what our intent is and what we are looking for as well as where possible finding areas of cooperation including as we were just talking about on something like synthetic opioids, fentanyl. so i also think, senator it's not only what's in our interest, but the rest of the world looks to us to manage this relationship responsibly. we are determined to do that. >> i appreciate that and like i said, i think there has been concern among some of our allies in that part of the world that we can do a better job and certainly they can do a better job of making that work. madam secretary, we had a really good conversation the other day

about trade. i know you feel like it's important. we feel like it's important. can you tell us what the challenge is or obstacles that you anticipate in facing establishing additional trade? many of the potential partners in the region they don't want to choose between us and china but they want to hedge their bets as far as where they do business. what are some of the obstacles to getting additional trading opportunities going? >> thank you, senator. first let me say i want to echo something that was just said. the commerce department is focused on export controls and we will be vigilant and aggressive as possible. we will protect what we must, but we want to trade where we can. and that includes with china. we have no interest to decouple.

many jobs depend on trade with china and things outside of technology completely unrelated to the national security and i do think it's important that you hear that from me that we want to trade where we can. >> and i agree and appreciate that. >> thank you. with respect to the rest of the region, i think it's a few things. first, it's showing up so the commerce department's budget calls for additional funding for the commercial service presence in the indo pacific one of the most dynamic fastest growing regions of the world economically. we need to be there. we need to be doing business and promote our own exports. a second, as we've discussed of the indo pacific framework although it's not a trade agreement and we've discussed that, it is significant if we are successful i believe we will be in getting 14 countries to sign on to a supply chain cooperative agreement and

critical minerals, infrastructure agreement. it will bring more u.s. industry trade investment to the region. and i think that is all incredibly important. it's not so much obstacles because they want us in the region. china doesn't want us and we shouldn't make these countries choose, by the way, but we should be their partner of choice and i believe we will be when we show up in the way that we are and continue to. >> thank you, madam chair. senator murphy. >> thank you madam chair for this important hearing and all of you for a long afternoon. china is not 10 feet tall. they are tall and getting taller, but we still enjoy certain definitive advantages. one of those advantages is our story.

our story of the participatory democracy and open economy is the story of the last 100 years and can be the story of the next 100 years so i want to talk to you for one minute about our investment in telling that story but also making sure to push back against false narratives coming out of beijing. it's hard to tell how much money they are spending on their propaganda operation but it's more than us. they are making a lot of mistakes with the information that they spread, so they are not flawless in the execution of their misinformation propaganda operations but they do threaten to the worth hours over the next ten to 20 years if we don't get smart about spending more money and spending it and now more coordinated way so you proposed a 12% increase to the global engagement a center which the state department's capacity but that doesn't feel like a big

enough number so i wonder if you could say a word about the importance of that capacity and the other capacities that the agencies have and by the way we have to reauthorize the global engagement center. we actually have to get that done by the end of the year to make sure we can continue to push back against the narratives around the world. >> thank you for raising that, senator. i think what we are seeing is a number of countries who are in the business of an effect trying to weaponize information as part of competition or adversarial relationships with us and when they establish the global engagement center precisely to be able to push back effectively on that but with the truth, not misinformation or disinformation so working with other federal agencies to direct, to lead, to synchronize and coordinate and understand the sources, the trend in the malign actors efforts to spread disinformation

and misinformation and also to compete in the information space even when it's not disinformation. with regards to china they play a very important role and just to give a few examples in our own hemisphere where we see china being very active is important journalism and research on the messaging tactics china engages in and it's helped them assess their influence in the information environments in the western hemisphere and we've helped them to build out regional expertise. in africa we've engaged the capacity building workshops with scientologists to help people better understand the influence china is wielding and its ambitions to make the findings public and one a final thing this is important together with china house, the consolidated place to bring all of the expertise together we are engaged and proactive

affirmative messaging to push back on something very interesting that china and russia does they provide free of charge the equivalent of the associated press to country after country so if you are getting up in the morning and listening to the news or reading a newspaper you are getting information that sounds like it as being locally produced but is in fact directly from the wire service of china where the russian federation. we are now making available to these countries the associated press and other objective sources of information. i think it's incredibly important information. give us one last piece of advice on the taiwan policy to the extent that this gets brought into our discussions about appropriations. you have recommended significant changes in the policy to bolster economic relations but warned against the implicit guarantees

or formal recognition of taiwan recognizing symbols of sovereignty. you've not seen the return on investment related to u.s. security if we essentially overturn the one china policy end of the relations does that continue to be the recommendation? >> it does. >> republican and democratic alike grounded in the one china policy and the taiwan relations act of the three communiqués. they've done very well for taiwan and ironically arguably done well for the prc because it is preserved peace and stability. it's put in place in understanding that up until now everyone refrains from taking unilateral action to try to change the status quo and a

crisis that would have global effects. one of the concerns we have going back some years is that beijing no longer seems to accept the status quo in taiwan and to coerce taiwan and to contemplate perhaps. we have 50% of the world negotiations that treat every single day 70% of the semi conductors manufacturers. but we have been resolute in our support for taiwan including its ability to defend itself to make sure that it has the ability to engage throughout the

international system and with countries around the world and in a variety of ways because we take very seriously our commitment under the taiwan relations act that again goes back many years but i think the basic framework that's been in place for many decades over many administrations has served us well and disrupting that the status quo would not be in our interest. thank you madam chair. i have a number of issues. i hope you will answer with a short response as well. in last year's requirement that both the department of defense and state submitted carranza report on the bilateral access

agreement. the refueling support and that's a do in a couple of weeks. will it be done on time? >> it well. >> great. how many planned cooperatives and locations, forward operating locations or support points require access agreements about currently do not exist? >> as you know there are a number of agreements we continue to pursue and of course when the need arises when the operation is being conducted, no matter what even if we have agreements we have to go back into that country and request those rights. we've done some things recently to increase the locations operating with our allies and partners in the region for example tel aviv.

when you were before the subcommittee, i brought up and we had a discussion to have them replace being in an emergency that we have to be aware of and being able to have that funded. do you believe congress needs to consider all the legislative options on the table right now in order to address this

emergency? >> i certainly believe it poses national security risks. it remains an american network including near military bases and i think that congress should fully fund the weapon replace program. >> i'm going to quote senator kennedy. i happen to have a bill for that and i hope my colleagues will consider that to senator hicken luber and i have been working on a bill and hopefully we can use some of those on obligated to covid-19 funds to fill that gap that exists. secretary austin, i appreciate the prior discussions we've had about the departments budget request and how it addresses munitions production issues that we are facing in this country and i agree the current request is a step in the right direction

but i also think there's more that we can do and if there is more that we have to do. from your perspective what it be useful to be able to add additional munitions multiyear procurement authorities and help us to remove some of the low value i would say contracting requirements out there when we are setting up these future contracts? >> it very much blood, senator. and let me thank you for what congress is doing, has done and i hope will do interim of the authority for the multi-procurement actions that's been very helpful and as you know we are asking for some $30 billion to invest in munitions which is just about the limit of what the industry can produce in the next year. >> you know i've been very concerned about munitions

requirements that we have for ourselves, the security of the nation but we also obviously have contracts and is applied to other nations as well. secretary, you testified recently that providing equipment to taiwan to defend itself is the production capacity. do we have the same issue with foreign military sales to other nations as well besides taiwan? >> we do. i think let me put it this way. in my capacity as secretary of state, i've signed out more cases for taiwan of the on any of my predecessors, and we are looking at ways to make the department even more efficient. and i know that our colleagues at the dod do the same thing but if you look at the calendar schedule of these things where we have the challenge is on the production end and there's a variety of reasons as you know

for that that's actually changing as the result of intense engagement and that in part because of ukraine and the russian aggression there is growing demand around the world that is getting production moving again but unfortunately it's not flipping a light switch but we are intensely focused on that. the secretary is doing this every day. >> thank you, thank you madam chair. senator peters. >> thank you madam chair and i want to thank the panel thank you for being here today and discussing the u.s. economic competitiveness and especially with respect to china. i'm particularly focused on ensuring we are competing at every single level of our economy that means attracting and maintaining talent including in ai as well as making sure that america's manufacturing sector remains the best in the world by first off supporting and a strong workforce on the shop room floor but also making

sure we are making things in our country i don't think you can be a great country unless you make things, which is why manufacturing is absolutely essential to that. one example of this dual competitiveness i believe is autonomous vehicles. that technology represents the future for mobility in the auto industry and if the u.s. is going to be a leader in the future of the automotive industry, we have to find ways to not only develop autonomous vehicle technology here in america but we have to actually manufacture it here in america and deploy it in our country as well. that's why i've worked on the legislation to ensure that america can manufacture this cutting edge technology so we don't lose the race with china. china is investing massive amounts of money and we believe this represents in some ways the moonshot for other artificial intelligence because of the complexity of it. i don't want to be in the position where we are playing catch up for years like we are

and we have been in areas like semiconductor chips. so my question for you, how is the department of commerce working to ensure that its strategy on economic competitiveness particularly with china reflects not only purchased research and development and innovation but actually the making of things and manufacturing with american workers in the united states? >> thank you, senator. good afternoon. i wholeheartedly agree that we need to get back into the business of making more things in america and as my colleagues know, no one believes that more than president biden. so we are doing a number of things and ensuring that we can regain our, rejuvenate our manufacturing sector. first and foremost is the chips act. hundreds of thousands for manufacturing jobs. this budget calls for increased investments in the manufacturing extension partnership which will

provide technical assistance to small manufacturers which is the majority of manufacturers even in michigan. all the small suppliers, they will help them to become more digitized to do training et cetera. we will also invest in a great deal of money in job training and apprenticeship initiatives with a focus on manufacturing. so, in the interest of time i will say we took our eye off the ball in the country on manufacturing. .. arrest department. so that we can be in the business of proactively monitoring and predicting supply chain challenges before they

happen. not just being reactive. that would be immensely helpful to us to rejuvenate manufacturing. thank you. certainly china's persistent rubber evolving cybersecurity threat to our nation as well as our federal government assistance. yet despite this ain't federal federal cybersecurity lobby federal information security management act has not been updated for a decade. secretary often. i want to ask this question for you. given dod's position in both the chinese and government through cyber calm as well as protecting dod systems from cyber attack, could you discuss how the dod empowers and benefits of the department of homeland security and protect federal systems as well as critical infrastructure here in the homeland? and how this can support that effort? >> think it center.

your for your what you said in terms of persistent cyber threats. it's absolutely the case. as you very well know dod dhs of overlapping collaborate and share information to be able to better protect our information domestically. but, not only do we share intelligence we actually co-author advisories. when the patient presents itself. we very tightly connected. but again the ability to help even more would be welcome. so to your point everything we can do to ensure we have the freedom to do that or the ability to do that will be

helpful. but senator. >> thank you for deferring. appreciate that. thank you for your leadership. i appreciate it. went to talk about the arctic. secretary austin you noted yourself on a trip to alaska in 21 he said here in alaska we are aware the end of pacific nation and us as an arctic nation intersect these two critical regions intersect. we project a power in both reasons we must be able to defend ourselves from both places. better posture ourselves and prepare for climate change that will impact our future. secretary blinken you are in anchorage conducting a summit with china just recognizing

strategic location. when a classified briefing this morning. in general is very, very upfront and sing our development infrastructure continues to lag he repeated that again this morning. so i want to move us. talk by the end of pacific is not just the island, senator kennedy was talking about. i think we recognize all the up north were thinking about china and china is partnering right and what russia is gaining advantage even at sanctions coming at them the two of them are partnering for everything from what is going on in the water to moving oil from russia to help out china and find

pollutants war. ask yourself telecom to the gulf of alaska. there are 75 miles from alaska. we are nervous about all that is happening there. and i thank you all would agree you have reason to be nervous. senator points the president has named an arctic ambassador at large. we need to get that moving, thank you for that. we put in place additional personnel to help on the personnel side. policies, we need to know. secretary austin you guys are right there with us. we need to have a deep water port in the arctic.

center brick and i checking on the polar security cutters. they're coming but they're not coming fast enough. we get commercially available icebreaker up there soon. for three or four years. and probably longer that they're going to be down in antarctica. we are exposed up there. were talking about the u.s./china relationship let's remember how it comes together. and our proximity there. i want to ask you secretary austin you acknowledge we updated our arctic strategies that are so important from the department. we won't recognize is just a piece of paper. we look at the projects the president's budget has submitted only seeking funding for two projects and what are the most

strategic locations in our country. we talk about on the unfunded priority list is a lot of things for the arctic there. causes me too question whether or not we are appropriately resourcing what we need to do in order to have the level of preparedness. a level of deterrence would have disease a secretary for quick as you well know, senator we have some of our most valued assets in alaska. f35. lexmark fifth generation fighters we are happy about it. >> that is right. you're taking really good care of them up there. we stood up the 11th airborne is going to continue to provide great capabilities i asked to invest this year $500 million in over the horizon radars. which will increase domain awareness. lester asked for three and

$73 million. we are going to continue to invest increase domain awareness. to do things as speak. exercise ongoing in alaska. up in the great north. we need more allies and partners to make sure we can operate efficiently and effectively in this environment. we look to continue to invest. >> think of at a time read secretary blinken acknowledging we can do more on the personal site to make sure we are paying attention to that. next thank you madden. senator merkley. thank you all. we had china engaged in boarding

schools when you have five or six years old. we have china stripping the political rights out of hong kong. is it fair to say china is a massive human rights violator? xes. >> is this alone reason to encourage our companies to's have supply chains elsewhere? what's in and of itself i would say companies face the moral hazard of engaging in that white would see it that way yes. china is flexing its muscles in the pacific region. a whole host of ways. in that context on the thank you for visiting vietnam. he visited the week after and led a congressional delegation. how important is the counterweights? >> first of off it is a vital

difference together as you know all the southeast asian nations. and in many ways what they feel more comfortable tackling a challenging issue collectively as opposed individually. but for us the bilateral relationships both the relationship are of interest and important. as you mentally have a good and growing relationship with vietnam. which of the president on the philippines here for a very important visit. the secretary of defense is done as well as the work my department has done and i can go down the list of countries in southeast asia brickwork so wish it did not take two days to get a congressional delegation happening to start this meetings. it's hard for the legislators hold as many direct conversations in the region. it means a lot.

>> is strongly applauded and encouraged you and other members of this committee are doing. that congressional is vital. it's important are counterparts here from you directly for the concerns the prerogatives of congress. check secretary, you noted in search of cheap labor with us manufacturing jobs from the united states. the supply chain moved overseas. which is particularly true primarily true in china. and that effort i guess i'll put it this way do you agree that trade relationship with china and a number of supply-chain factories moved from u.s. to china helped accelerate china's path to wealth and power? >> in some ways yes i would agree. >> in many ways. they ran huge surpluses that

allow them to invest massively including helping the belt and wrote initiative. as we look at the way china behaves in the world, and the factors of competition should we be encouraging our companies to develop and whether factories to other countries in the region question there are certainly increased risks with operating in china producing seven months chinese officials without notice rating american companies. so i think every company has to make these decisions were in a secretary said there are risks associated with it. what we are doing our work especially in the endo pacific i was recently in india and of course the president is hosting the prime minister is working with those countries to increase

our economic relationship and partnership. but also working to help american companies reassure workers to america. >> thank you i love the word we sure bible more question i went get in before my time is up. point to acknowledge eve her worry about the wealth and power of china at their wealth and power continues to grow in part because of the massive amount of products that we buy from china. which is in my mind. secretary austin, i have heard two strategies in regard to taiwan. one is the taiwan strait is a very difficult piece of water to cross. we can do a massive amount to turn taiwan into a porcupine with inexpensive weapons that can take out expensive weapons. that lays out a whole strategy. and it is important in the

context of the argument he wants to beat military prepared to take taiwan by 2027. i have heard the other argument being we need to greatly enhance our ability to conduct war directly against china including repositioning tons of material, armaments, weapons, and so forth. those are two very different strategies. which strategy do you think is the most important? >> actually center thanks. think they're both important. we have learned a number of important lessons from ukraine's war with russia. one of those is asymmetric capabilities and asymmetric tactics and techniques a small force can do a really good job in defending themselves against a larger force, e.g. your word

turn themselves almost a joy porcupine make it difficult for the larger force to digest them. but in terms of a china problem set at large, my mandate is to make sure we continue to deter china on a daily basis. the way you deter another force is by making sure you have combat credible capability. investing in the things that we know will provide us the edge in any kind of contest is the right thing to do. that includes in some cases moving things forward in theater repositioning things. troopers jocular gordon and teacher old luscious floor there. times of thank you. senator perry. >> thank you chair murray. thank each of you for being here today pretty greatly appreciated. secretary blinken, secretary

raimondo thank you for the time you've given us over these few weeks on this important issue. and particularly the issue of fentanyl but hope to be able to dive into that more today. secretary austin, i'm actually start with you. a special welcome and a war ego to a alabama and auburn university postgraduate. secretary also truly believe we achieve peace through strength breaker up outside the gates that you know has more recently been renamed. i saw the sacrifice of our servicemen and women. and i saw that sacrifice was not just theirs. it was that of their entire family. giving so that our country can remain safe and strong. i have a deep appreciation for men and women in uniform women who serve. think of modernization efforts alabama has played and continues to play a vital role. across our great state our

defense industrial base is leading efforts ranging from hypersonic's, direct energy, modernization of art rotary wing aircraft, national security space launch, contested logistics and manufacturing and assembling key missile programs such as javelin. this is just a sampling of what alabama's talent, synergies and capabilities provide to the defense and national security communities as sweet face impending threats from the prc. secretary austin, europe and the seat now for nearly two and half years. on a scale to 82f grade would you give yourself on aligning the dod to the national defense strategy and ensuring the joint force is able, willing and ready to address a multi- domain threat that is posed by china.

>> i would give my team a very high mark, high-grade. as you've heard me say, set up a couple of times in a senator, everything that we do is focus on her national defense strategy we specifically aligned our budget requests to that strategy. they capabilities that we are going after will provide us the capability to support war fighting concepts. and so everything that we do is aligned with the strategy. number one it's the right strategy. number two we are very much focused on the execution of that strategy. >> thank you for that answer. think we go to the american people. get the resources to ensure we have the most lethal and best equipped military in the world. secretary often i be remiss if i did not touch on one more topic. as we consider the multi- domain threat land, sea, air, space

that is posed by the prc, particularly from a space perspective. as a leader of the department of defense i implore you to cut to the politics and make a final decision for the us-based head command headquarters. as you know huntsville's redstone arsenal finished first in both the air force evaluation phase in the selection phase but that means no doubt your first decision to choose redstone as the preferred basic location was correct. it was on the merits. that decision the air force purview. it said the president and those in the white house are preparing prioritize partisan political considerations at the expense of our national security, military modernization and are force readiness. for me that is deeply disturbing. when you look at this you said earlier in order to compete and succeed against china we must

use all of our tools. when you look at that, we know those tools are there at redstone arsenal. we don't city of huntsville in the past two years they but ranked by u.s. world report number two place live in the united states. also but ranked number three and most affordable places to live in the country. it was number three in the city's nationwide search best quality of life. number for the most prosperous place in america. i go on and on about the city of huntsville accolade that been rightfully given to them. the bottom line is not always huntsville's workforce best prepared to support space command mission but also the city of huntsville is the best place for that workforce to thrive and to live the american dream. locating permanent space command headstone undoubtedly remains in the best national security interest of the united states.

you referenced earlier in your remarks the buildup of china in both space and five days. i do not prove him right through the president take the politics out of this. do it is best for making sure we are ready and capable to face the china on all fronts. urged him to allow the air force to do their job. it is certainly in my opinion past time, thank you. senator manchin. >> i don't know if i can follow that. very good. first of all, going to thank you all for your tremendous service to our country. all three of you. just a few things. everything has been said so unstated so our challenges and where we are doing well and where we can improve in all of us agree. i have my differences with the

administration on the speed at which they're trying to elective vehicles we cannot supply the support we need be we do not have access all the critical minerals. we do not have the processing, but they are determined to put vehicles out and be like on china for that. i have tremendous concerns there they know it and i will work through that. where the ships, missiles, guns, the bolted everything else we cap deal what ukraine has shown us in the world, everything about one thing different that makes us different. our allies trust us, believe in us. the compassion of humanity we had, the aide broke all my disagreements administration 20 thank you all for increasingly paid budget to allies and friends and people in need.

my grandmother used to say the best thing to do is feed somebody. it changes everything. it changes everything. and for that as any other country do what we do in human aid? we have never put a condition on food, healthcare or any of that, help me? center we have not your one of us not right. one quick example. critical nics provides more than 40% of its budget. china and russia each provide less than 1% of its budget. i could go down the list. we have not even talked about eta been your couple hours the strength of the united states of america. is the heart and soul the humanitarian. it's everything that we are. i go to another country when things get tough you got to depend on someone is going to be the u.s. i think they want to do it that

all the military might in the world they have to be competitive. with that in having our allies will rally behind us and fight for us. to meet that means almost everything. that makes us different. and as long as we do that continued that aide. money well invested were not spending it, we are investing it. anything you think we could do a long line with the food and how can the subsidies we will have around the world in developing nations, also i don't think we get credit enough unless our military is involved we have strict oversight how this food and humanitarian aid is distributed by feel good when i see our military distributing it. but, sometimes i know some of the wealth meaning programs that are doing it the aide does not seem to get to the right people or we get credit for it as a

country perfect set up cannot agree the more. one of things we did drink only to provide vaccine free of charge with no political strings attached to country after country around the world. through an international entity called kovacs we also make sure it was branded. until people knew in a variety of ways with her getting vaccines coming from united states as i was traveling about country after country has thanked us profusely for coming to their aid in that moment of need. one way different than any other country on earth regards if we could not being relied on to imprison ourselves. anything i have said we cannot change but we cannot change the values of other countries that do not have our same values. love of family and love of our religious freedoms and democracy. we cannot change that. get caught up in some of the sometime i hope we don't i will say this and will close on this.

i've been around long enough to remember if we did not fight in vietnam communist were coming to this country. our member the gulf war if we did not go there and productive disrupt the economic market arm of work we did not fight declare war in iraq is the only support or involvement we have been with the war. exactly what the united that mountain basically shining brightly. think we will defend democracy wherever people seek it. we will make sure we do not leave them. i hope we maintain the posturing with ukraine for my grandfather ted again trouble and said i will be back into your chest hurts present that's all you need to always be by me the united states a spy ukraine until her chest hurts then we would be with them forever.

we got to win and continue to be with her allies for a thank you, all of you all three of you for your services. and i know you lost your mother i've been thinking about that, it is very difficult. i hope you all are going through this. all. >> thank you. et cetera (. >> thanks and thanks to the rink member for holding the steering. thanks to lb for being here secretary the chinese prc dramatically buildings nuclear capabilities are you committed to making sure we continue to modernize our nuclear forces? >> conceived in the budget request funds to continue the modernization effort are reflected in the budget. >> thank you high pressure that support. vitally important for nuclear triad for both you and secretary of state blinken.

to end the war. to win the war however you define that. rather than stalemate. certain long-range tanks, are they getting the weapon systems they need to they can end this conflict and not end up in stalemate? >> yes i believe they are. this is something the ukraine minister of defense denies. on a near weekly basis. certainly we meet every month along ministers of defense of some 50 countries. and discuss what their needs are but we mobilize the support to provide for it recently heard us talk about the requirements for air defense. that was the thing they needed most. but we have seen in the last couple of days that focus on air defense has been very, very

helpful for the rain and snow saw the latest barrage. a very skillfully. hopefully see change the dynamic on the battlefield. those patriot systems as well as aircraft. the skies on both sides number of aircraft in the sky at one of the others going to shoot it down. that capability will continue to evolve in terms of what ukraine has quickly understand where you're going with this. ending the war winning the war versus stalemate. once a month with ruth second

turned up and fired at helmet if i could, credited clifford mcauley say from the beginning. if you go back to before the beginning we did drawdowns of critical equipment well before the russian aggression because without coming to mixer ukrainians had indicated what they needed to repel that aggression did drawdowns labor day before the war started. we did another one christmas for dinner quietly to not give the russian some excuse. but we did it. as a result the stingers, the job once i had in hand allow them to repel the attack that whole area is very successful part but we have done every single step along the way is to try to adjust to the work was, where the aggression was to give the ukraine but they need to take back the land that is been seized from them. the other critical element is the weapon systems are critical. but as critical of the training they do not know how to use them but doesn't hear a lot of good to give the best system of the worldwide maintenance of things would fall apart a week because they can't maintain it is not a

lot of good. the tactics for bringing all these different systems together. the chairman of the joint chiefs have been deeply focused on. that is how you have a think a strategy. and the ukrainians need to be able to get back the land that is been seized from them. >> the secretary of state talking about endgame winning strategy to the american people would be helpful in terms of the support as well as our allies in terms of the support for what we are doing for think that is important. when he spent explaining that to the american people as a part of the support effort. as recently and in south korea and taiwan but what i'm hearing in both cases but certainly in taiwan is $19 billion worth of military hardware. very advanced hardware, back to the porcupine strategy.

they knew that sooner rather than later. we have her own domestic needs. how do we get the military-industrial complex to be able to produce these weapons? the key situation sooner. how do we help them get that done? ask high-end capabilities the hardware you are talking about some that is aircraft we came in the door. we lean into that right away. a group of senior people together to look at when the bumps in the road were. really friction was. the content try to eliminate the friction points we possibly can.

those into this equation as you all know. you can present timelines. coming out of tears of covid there parts of the industry that were challenged. some of it because of that some things are going to take a bit longer. in terms of weapons systems we continue to engage in industry leadership. talk to ceos my deputy talk to ceos. too not only work with them, and to expand their capacity or capability. also to begin to shrink the amount of time to produce a particular product. and in some cases we have been very successful. some are sophisticated to the point we are not quite there yet but we will continue to work at it. takes a long time typically to make one. i think there are things we can

do as we look at how to produce those to shorten that process those processes as well. >> thank you, thank you madam chair. >> thank you madam chair. i think all of you for your testimony and for your service. secretary austin you from be one of a long line of secretaries that recognizes in addition to getting a robust defensive budget to do the work that you and your team at the defense department do other elements of our national security like the state department, diplomacy and development. like the of commerce and her team. i am fairly satisfied at the end of the day we will have a budget that meets the needs of the defense department. but i'm really worried about what were seeing coming out of the house of representatives right now in terms of its impact on other critical elements of our national security budget. i want to ask a couple questions

starting with secretary raimondo. i also would say we are sorry about the loss of your mom. i knew she was proud of the work you're doing. let me ask you about that. present by laid out a very important vision of the need to invest in innovation. and to invest in rejuvenating our manufacturing base. he's defending on the chip's part but we better follow through on the science part. that is the ai, the quantum computing other critical elements of technology for china has said they intend to try to dominate by the year 2025 and beyond. i know if we do what we need to do in this country will continue to have our competitive edge but not if we don't. that is one element read the other element you've spoken of this in your testimony is we want to make sure as we advance very advanced technologies including semiconductors and the equipment to manufacture semi

conductors we do want to fall in the hands of the prc military. that is why we work with our allies in partners, even secretary blinken work with our partners to make sure you get an to prevent that from happening. the agency government that really focuses on implementing that is the bias bureau of formation and security. could you just described in a little more detail what will happen if we go back to 2022 funding levels for this department? it seems to be an entity that bites way above his weight it is essential in this effort. can you speak to the impact of keeping our technologies on the hands of china's military? and the importance in terms of the impact on imposing pain on russia's economy and slowing down? >> thank you, senator. good afternoon and thank you for your sympathy my family and i appreciate that.

let me first say our competition with china increasingly revolves around technology. the united states of america, are ecosystem are the envy of the world. and we need to keep it that way and that means investing, investing in talent, investing in research and development, investing in nests. this is a billion-dollar backlog in deferred maintenance that is the crown jewel of united states government is elites artificial intelligence quantum, cyber, et cetera. at the same time we are behind a billion i strongly believe, as you say that we have to leap into research and development and invest in science. chips is an excellent beginning is not just chips bio manufacturing comments critical minerals at other areas in

advanced manufacturing we will not be able to compete. we lead china into a ip league lead in semi conductors we have to continue to invest to maintain the lead. the iso purchasing the punch above our weight. i happen to agree. it's only about 500 some odd people who work in bias. which is obviously quite small. we would go back jeff white funding levels will be down 155 slots. as a% of the 583 ftes, that is crushing. within days, he mentioned russian and ukraine within days the commerce department work with inter- agency led a 36 country coalition to enact sweeping export controls that to this day reduces russia's

ability to continue their war. with respect, laughter we did hundreds of and use checks related to the prc. in october we put forth the most sweeping semi conductor export controls ever in our history. just last month we did 300 million-dollar penalty on a company they were violating export controls by selling hard disks to while away. and on and on and on. we are out of time so i will stop. it is a very real risk for the national security to cut the funding. i think secretary austin and my colleagues would agree. >> thank you. i see time is up i do like to say thank you for all your efforts, your testimony on the end of pacific. i was going to ask about the maritime security issue which president marcos when he was here emphasized in a trip i took with senator merkley to vietnam

and indonesia it was clear they want to protect their territorial waters. versus. enron the same page here. we cut that budget who will not be able to meet our commitments for them in you and your team as well. >> think if your engagement and leadership on this fence making a big difference. one of things are working very hard on is to increase the maritime domain awareness. so that they know what is going on these and waters around them which are so vital to the countries. as part of our budget we do not want to shortchange that either. >> thank you, thank you men chair. quick senator heitzman. execute madam chairman. when you think our distinguished panel today for the willingness to serve and the willingness to step up. we certainly appreciate that. i am from mississippi. we are very proudly played such a significant role for defense

capabilities. from shipbuilding to aerospace technology we have a tremendous talented workforce in mississippi. we have families that have worked in shipyards for generations. we do this very well. it does demonstrate our ability to have high-quality defense systems. they do protect their servicemen and servicewomen. but the rapid and unprecedented modernization of china's military is of great concern as many of the members here have demonstrated today and ask questions about. secretary austin, this question is going to be for you. the security of our national interests and those of our allies will rely on ensuring united states maintain air dominance this part of its potential future conflict in the pacific region.

as part of our air dominance strategy what you describe the department's efforts to modernize the fleet will he also explained the role insignificance of the air national guard and refueling missions in the pacific region? >> thank you, senator. first of all our refueling capability is rivaled by none. that is a strategic advantage i think gives us the reach for he gives us the ability to project power in ways that no other country even comes close to it. as you have seen firm budget request some $60 billion to invest in aircraft, to modernize aircraft across the board. we want to make sure we are able

to go after the capabilities that we need. also it not have to carry capabilities that we don't need any longer. which will prevent us from modernizing the fleet. we are going to continue to invest in platforms that help us maintain that edge that i just talked about. but our tanker fleet is truly amazing. national guard punches above its weight class in every endeavor. certainly they add significant value to this effort as well. >> thank you for that. do you anticipate any roadblocks in ensuring air national guard refueling units such as the 186 air refueling lane in mississippi received and we have funded that process adequately? next i will work with the

secretary of the air force to visit his plan to specific plans on that unit going forward. we will get back to you with a detailed answer on the plans. looks okay. i have another minute and have left them going to take advantage of before we end this very long day. but secretary austin company rate at which the divided administration your department are requesting funding to modernize our naval service is being significantly outpaced by china as we well know. this committee were to provide additional funding towards ship procurement, how would your department use it to address the growing threat from china and the end of pacific region? >> certainly, i truly believe we have gone after those capabilities that help us conduct the strategy we have laid out for ourselves.

rink numbers is part of the equation. but not the whole equation. having the right capabilities the right mix of capabilities is the major issue here. if you look at our navy for the most, credible navy on the face of the planet from going to work at keeping it that way. for investing in the right things. we are asking for nine battleships in this budget. where going to cap go after the capabilities that industry to produce for us. also to continue to invest in the infrastructure the debate to perform billion dollars to do that this year. 2.7 and then another one point to billion dollars in the submarine industrial base. i'll end by saying you know our underwater capability is matched by none on the planet. we continue to invest in our submarines the columbia class

and i think that will help us maintain the edge. >> alright, thank you for that answer. >> thank you very much that concludes our question and answer. senator collins would you like to make any closing remarks? >> thank you madam chair. i just want to thank our witnesses answering our questions today. there will be additional questions i am sure for the record. but thank you for your presence. >> thank you. i want to thank all of my colleagues with a really good turnout today for such a thoughtful discussion i specially think our witnesses sharing your time and knowledge with us today. i look forward to talk with all of my colleagues to take what we have learned today and make sure you do quickly mark up spending bills that make the investments we need to compete with the chinese government.

let's not parse words here. the prc poses a serious and growing challenge. economically and in terms of our national security. we have to be cleared tackling this challenge is not just about how much we spend on our military. if we choose to only undercut other critical programs across government we are setting ourselves up to lose the 21st century to china. building semi conductors here at home for example is a matter of urgent national security. he required investments in rnd, advanced manufacturing, reliable supply chain and trade partnerships and a skilled workforce that relies on things like childcare, higher education and workforce investments and more. we need to make sure we invest in america across the board. that means yes, investing in defense of prayer and families and communities here at home. our diplomacy across the world and our ability to compete globally. i'll say it again, china does

not operate on crp to help explain to nurse on both sides of the aisle of the single strongest way and send a message to the prc saying america is serious about winning the 21st century is to pass robust a bipartisan on-time full-year appropriation bills. before i and i do want to reiterate something secretary austin spoke to this afternoon he testified he did not see conflict with the government of china as necessary or inevitable. it is our shared goal that we work together to have a productive relationship with china. i appreciate all of our witnesses to make that a reality. i will end our hearing today. threatening senators to jewish to ask additional questions questions for the record will be good 70s on tuesday may 23 at 5:00 p.m. the hearing record will also remain open until may 23 from members who wish to submit additional materials for the

record. again thank you so much for witnesses today. the committee since adjourned. [background noises] [background noises]

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