Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley on Tuesday made their first appearance on Capitol Hill since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are some moments from the House Armed Services Committee hearing on the fiscal year 2023 budget.

• Austin and Milley both said the world is less stable today than it was before the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan and Russia went into Ukraine.
• Milley said the U.S. may need to increase its presence in Europe in the coming years as a deterrent. He said he prefers rotational deployments instead of permanent placement to reduce costs and avoid moving additional military families overseas.
• Lawmakers pressed them about the Navy’s proposal to decommission 23 ships and buy nine new ones. Milley said the Navy has assessed that the new fleet would be more efficient and that the focus is on “capability versus capacity.”
• Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) said when it comes to divesting in legacy systems, he knows “everyone’s heart is in the right place, but we have to be very careful. If the world asks, do we have the capability to fight in two wars at once?”
• The Biden administration’s budget request would boost service member pay by 4.6%, the largest increase in about 20 years, but several Republican committee members noted that the raise is below the current rate of inflation, which is about 8%.
• Members also mentioned inflation as it relates to the budget’s assumptions. Milley said the budget was calculated with an expected 2.2% inflation and that the numbers were put together before inflation reached its highest level in decades. DOD Comptroller Mike McCord, testifying alongside Austin and Milley, said that DOD saw about a 4% inflation rate in its fiscal year 2022 purchasing power.
• Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) noted that Congress often authorizes and appropriates funding for items DOD does not request. McCord said such expenses typically make up about 3% to 5% of defense spending.
• Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) asked how DOD plans to compete with the private sector when recruiting personnel who can help drive ambitious innovation plans. “We know we can’t offer the packages that Big Tech offers,” Austin said, adding that recruitment is an emphasis for DOD, “to include bringing on people who are currently employed by those companies to serve in our Guard and Reserve forces, too.”

Austin, Milley and McCord will appear at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday morning.

DOD photo by U.S. Air Force TSgt. Jack Sanders