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The committee will come to order.
Good morning and thank you to Chief Moore for joining us here on Capitol Hill to discuss the Forest Service's fiscal year 2024 budget request.
I am pleased to return as Chairman of the Interior Subcommittee to have the opportunity to address the critical issues and needs of the U.S. Forest Service. As a Western Member of Congress, fire is far too familiar to the communities in my home state of Idaho and across the West.
I genuinely enjoy the Forest Service employees in our region and value their important work.
They are consistently doing the best job they can with the funding and laws we enact from thousands of miles away in Washington, DC. It's safe to say Forest Service employees are not in it for the money; they join the Forest Service for their love of the outdoors and want to do their part to conserve and protect it.
The hearing will come to order.
It is my pleasure to welcome Secretary Jennifer Granholm to the Energy and Water Subcommittee this morning to discuss the fiscal year 2024 budget request for the Department of Energy.
Madam Secretary, you well know that I strongly support the primary missions of your Department. Specifically – DOE, through the National Nuclear Security Administration, supports our nation's defense through the maintenance of the nuclear weapons stockpile and through support of the nuclear Navy. DOE, through the Office of Science, remains the nation's largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences.
The Defense Subcommittee will come to order.
Today, the Subcommittee will receive testimony from:
- the Honorable Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense;
- General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
- and Undersecretary Mike McCord, the Department's Comptroller and CFO.
The Department of Defense is requesting $825 billion within this subcommittee's jurisdiction. This is a modest increase from fiscal year 2023 levels, particularly as we enter the middle of a decisive decade for the security and prosperity of our nation and the world.
In many ways, the Biden Administration has put the United States at a serious disadvantage.
