{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=BA097AEB-06CC-448E-AA20-38C5300D29CF", "McConnell Opening Statement at SAC-D Hearing on FY 26 Budget Request for the Air Force and Space Force", "2025-06-26", "2025", "2025-06", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, convened today\u2019s hearing \u201cA Review of the President\u2019s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the Air Force and Space Force\u201d. Prepared text of his opening statement follows:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll begin by welcoming Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General David Allvin, and Chief of Space Operations, General Chance Saltzman. Thanks to each of you for your decades of service to our nation, and our thanks as well to the airmen and guardians you lead.\n\n\u201cThis weekend\u2019s successful operations over Iran served as a reminder of the immense skill and professionalism of America\u2019s men and women in uniform: Pilots operating coolly in enemy airspace\u2026Dozens of aircraft and thousands of personnel helping to get them safely over their targets\u2026Massively powerful ordnance delivered with the utmost precision\u2026And all flights returning home safely.\n\n\u201cThe way I see it, there are two key takeaways, here: The first one is the value of allies and partners. Israel\u2019s magnificent military and intelligence operations created the strategic opportunity. In degrading Iran\u2019s air defenses, the Israelis demonstrated how highly competent allies act as force multipliers in the face of common threats. We ought to keep this in mind when we look at Europe and the Indo-Pacific, too. Allies and partners are going to be essential to any big fight, and we should not underestimate their value.\n\n\u201cOf course, at the end of the day, nobody in the world but the U.S. Air Force can do what you did this weekend. America\u2019s ability to project power globally is unparalleled. And that brings me to the second takeaway: military primacy doesn\u2019t happen overnight. The most sophisticated military in world history is the product of trillions of dollars over decades.\n\n\u201cSustaining this military force isn\u2019t cheap. Modernizing it to preserve our military edge is even more expensive. But if we value the lives of our servicemembers\u2026The unprecedented peace we have experienced since World War II\u2026And the fruits of the American-led international order\u2026Then it\u2019s worth every penny and then some.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s most determined adversaries have studied the capabilities and tactics of our military closely, and have developed advanced radars, sensors, and long-range air defenses to counter precisely the strength we showed last weekend\n\n\u201cThe PRC has been playing a long game to challenge American primacy. By contrast, in crucial ways, we\u2019ve been taking our edge for granted. Chronic underfunding of the national defense has become a habit of consecutive administrations. Unfortunately, the budget we\u2019re here to discuss today is no exception. In fact, the President\u2019s request for FY26 falls well short of meeting the requirements imposed by today\u2019s threat landscape. We simply will not keep pace with the pacing threat of China if we\u2019re not willing to keep pace with inflation.\n\n\u201cThe Air Force needs to modernize its bomber and fighter fleets. It needs new tankers and command and control aircraft. It also needs longer-range and more sophisticated munitions. And it needs a lot of them.\n\n\u201cThe Space Force needs advanced satellite technologies, resilient communications systems, and enhanced surveillance capabilities, to deter aggression, ensure freedom of maneuver, and maintain uninterrupted space-based support to joint and allied forces back on planet earth. And you can\u2019t do any of it with anemic base budgets. You just can\u2019t.\n\n\u201cPreserving our military edge and the peace will require sustained and significant increases in defense spending. Not just a one-time infusion. But it\u2019s not just the size of the FY26 request many of us are concerned about. It\u2019s also the structure. The Administration has asked Congress to split the funds for massive procurement efforts like B-21 and Sentinel between the base budget and a one-time reconciliation bill.\n\n\u201cI struggle to understand how putting programs with broad bipartisan support in a simple-majority reconciliation bill won\u2019t function like a shell game for avoiding making the sort of annual, base-budget investments we begged the last Administration to make.\n\n\u201cThe need for stable production of aircraft seems to argue for year-on-year funding baked into a base budget. The constrained topline, of course, is forcing services to make artificially tough choices. In your case, let me just say this: We all want to go to space. But let\u2019s be honest about the risks and trade-offs this request is forcing you to make. If the choice you\u2019re facing is between an available, advanced airborne system with onboard battle management and a nascent space capability, you\u2019re going to have to resist the urge to turn proven capabilities like the E-7 into billpayers.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s value in redundancy. We should be making investments in both airborne and space-based command and control. They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. But squandering our advantage in this critical domain because we can\u2019t find the political will to maintain it? That would mean plenty of screaming here on Earth, with devastating consequences for U.S. military operations on land, air, and sea.\n\n\u201cI hope we\u2019ll also hear from you about how the Air Force is addressing munitions shortfalls \u2013 not just in the massive ordnance penetrators deployed this weekend to great effect, but across the entire spectrum of both offensive and defensive capabilities on which Air Force operations are built. I\u2019ve been hoping to hear from each service how production challenges are being addressed, and the Air Force will be no exception.\n\n\u201cSpeaking of the MOP, I need to address the manufactured controversy over the extent to which the strikes damaged Iran\u2019s nuclear program. We haven\u2019t been briefed on the intelligence, but the political hand-wringing misses an important point: We\u2019ve demonstrated our military superiority. If we want, we can own the skies over Iran. If the Iranians don\u2019t abandon their nuclear program, we can keep bombing them. And Iran\u2019s remaining leaders should take the off-ramp the President has offered them.\n\n\u201cFinally, I\u2019ll ask you to explain for us the lessons you\u2019re taking from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. How is the rapid evolution of unmanned systems informing the decisions you make about drone operations, force protection, and interception? And what information are you getting today that you\u2019d lose if America neglected its relationships with force-multiplying allies and partners?\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll look forward to your testimony on each of these fronts.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:34:38Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=BA097AEB-06CC-448E-AA20-38C5300D29CF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.170980839058757, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}