Breaking News1 min agoHegseth opening statement: Trump $1.5T plan will ditch ‘woke’ spending and rebuild the arsenal
War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s opening statement to the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday will cast President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 defense budget as a sweeping reset for the military, arguing the administration is redirecting money away from “woke” and other nonlethal priorities and back into warfighting, munitions and industrial capacity.
“The War Department will not be distracted by democracybuilding, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing, and feckless nation-building,” Hegseth’s opening statement released before the 10 a.m. hearing read.
“We will instead put our nation’s practical, concrete interests first. We will deter war. We will advance American interests. We will defend our people. Peace is our goal – and in service of that objective, we will always be ready to fight and win decisively if called upon.
“As part of this mission, we are asking American taxpayers to fund the world’s greatest military.”
Hegseth said the proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget would build on last year’s $1 trillion topline and fund what he called three core goals: restoring the “warrior ethos,” rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence.