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First, I would like to thank Chairman Cole for his leadership and guidance as we have worked through a particularly challenging process this year, given the recent conclusion of the FY25 process and the continuing lack of a detailed defense budget request. 

I would also like to thank both Ranking Member McCollum and Ranking Member DeLauro for their continuing friendship and partnership of many years.

As our time is very short today, and everyone is tired, I will seek to be relatively brief.

The bill before us today reflects the resources needed to face the significant and proliferating threats challenging the United States and its interests. 

It is important to note that the nation’s critical interests are global. 

Chairman Calvert, thank you for all the work you have done to ensure leadership in America’s defense, and thank you to Ranking Member McCollum for her partnership in that endeavor. 

We hope for peace, while always being prepared to sustain it. 

That has always been the burden and the honor of a free nation – and generation after generation, our military has stood as the greatest force for liberty the world has ever seen.

We must never allow that posture to change, and the complex threat environment before us demands serious focus. 

Ample evidence of this fact can be found in each hemisphere.

Aggressive and malevolent regimes—such as those in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—are not standing still. 

Thank you, Chairman Harris, and thank you to Ranking Member Bishop, Ranking Member DeLauro, and all the members of the Committee for being with us today.

As we continue our markup schedule for Fiscal Year 2026, I’m reminded that America’s farmers and ranchers were already hard at work before we entered this room. Sunup to sundown is nothing new for our producers – it’s a way of life. And it’s a powerful reminder that agriculture remains a cornerstone of our great nation.

In my home state of Oklahoma and across the country, the men and women who’ve worked the land for generations, raised livestock, and brought food to tables around the world deserve not just our gratitude – but our full support.

Thank you, Chairman Cole, and I want to commend your leadership as we get the FY26 appropriations process underway. I also want to recognize the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Ms. DeLauro, and the Subcommittee Ranking Member, Mr. Bishop, for their work in getting us to this point. I appreciate the conversations Mr. Bishop, and I have had, and while I know we don’t agree on everything in the bill, we do agree on the importance of the agencies and programs this bill funds. 

For FY26, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee’s discretionary allocation is $25.5 billion - a $1.1 billion, or 4.2 percent, decrease from FY25 enacted levels. In a setting of ongoing $2 trillion deficits, that modest constraint is necessary. 

Our next order of business is consideration of the Interim 302(b) Subcommittee Allocations for Fiscal Year 2026 for our first four bills.

These interim allocations will allow us to begin our work.

As we move forward, this committee is prepared to do the hard work – line by line – to uphold fiscal discipline and effective governance. 

Our FY26 process will target resources where they are needed most, reinforce the safety and security of the American people, and invest in high-impact missions.

We will take every step to ensure strong stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Charting a responsible fiscal path requires discipline in discretionary spending, while also acknowledging that mandatory spending is the primary driver of our long-term debt. Both are part of the conversations republicans are having across committees of jurisdiction because securing America’s future prosperity is a goal we all share.