{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2025/10/chairmen-of-senate-and-house-armed-services-committees-we-strongly-oppose-the-pentagon-s-decision-to-scale-back-the-u-s-troop-presence-in-romania", "Chairmen of Senate and House Armed Services Committees: We Strongly Oppose the Pentagon\u2019s Decision to Scale Back the U.S. Troop Presence in Romania", "2025-10-29", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Roger F. Wicker", "W000437", "www.wicker.senate.gov", "wicker", "https://www.wicker.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement expressing concern with the Pentagon\u2019s announcement that it will discontinue the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania, which appears uncoordinated and directly at odds with the President\u2019s strategy:\n\n\u201cWe strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania and the Pentagon\u2019s process for its ongoing force posture review that may result in further drawdowns of U.S. forces from Eastern Europe.\n\nOn March 19, we stated that we will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress.\n\nUnfortunately, this appears to be exactly what is being attempted. Two weeks ago, President Trump stated that the United States would not be withdrawing U.S. forces in Europe, but instead \u201cmay move some around a little bit.\u201d The President is right that U.S. force posture in Europe needs to be updated as NATO shoulders additional burdens and the character of warfare changes. But that update must be coordinated widely both within the U.S. government and with NATO.\n\nRomania has been a strong ally, making major investments to host U.S. forces and modernize the infrastructure that supports them. Romania has spent over 2% of GDP on its military for many years and has pledged to achieve 5% of GDP. These investments, alongside their contributions to NATO\u2019s eastern defenses and Black Sea security, underscore Romania\u2019s central role in the Alliance\u2019s security. Notably, since 2016, Romania has hosted a U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense detachment, accepting substantial political, military, and economic risk to field systems designed primarily for the defense of NATO allies rather than its own territory.\n\nThanks to President Trump\u2019s leadership, our European allies have agreed to shoulder historic levels of the burden of collective defense. However, European rearmament will take time. Pulling back U.S. forces from NATO\u2019s Eastern flank prematurely, and just weeks after Russian drones violated Romanian airspace, undermines deterrence and risks inviting further Russian aggression.\n\nThis decision also sends the wrong signal to Russia at the very moment President Trump is applying pressure to force Vladimir Putin to come to the table to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine. The President has it exactly right: now is the time for America to demonstrate our resolve against Russian aggression. Unfortunately, the Pentagon\u2019s decision appears uncoordinated and directly at odds with the President\u2019s strategy.\n\nIt is concerning that Congress was not consulted in advance of this decision, particularly given the clear, bipartisan, and bicameral support for a robust U.S. posture in Europe expressed in both the House and Senate versions of the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation also makes clear the Congressional intent that no modifications be made to the U.S. posture in Europe absent a thorough review process.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "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.wicker.senate.gov/2025/10/chairmen-of-senate-and-house-armed-services-committees-we-strongly-oppose-the-pentagon-s-decision-to-scale-back-the-u-s-troop-presence-in-romania"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6709650624543428, "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"}