Opening Remarks by Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief, National Guard Bureau, at the House Appropriations Committee Budget Hearing – National Guard and Reserve Forces (As Prepared)

Before I provide my opening remarks, I ask that we remember our fallen service members across the Joint Force who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. They will always be remembered.

Chairman Calvert, Ranking Member McCollum and esteemed members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the strength of your locally based, globally engaged National Guard.

I thank the 54 adjutants general and Senior Enlisted Advisor Raines for their counsel.

Moreover, I want to thank you, Congress, for your support that underpins everything we do, ensuring a stronger and more secure tomorrow.

It is an honor to represent the 435,000 Soldiers and Airmen of the National Guard. Today, more than 41,000 Guardsmen are engaged worldwide-securing our homeland and supporting every combatant commander around the globe.

Your National Guard has had a remarkable year, defined by the scale and simultaneity of our operations. We are powered by our core advantage: the Citizen-Soldier. They combine the warrior ethos with civilian-acquired skills, creating an organization that is as innovative as it is lethal-a force that is community based and engaged worldwide.

Defending the homeland is the Department of War's No. 1 priority. This is the National Guard's foundational mission. Our dual mission-serving as the primary combat reserve of the Army and Air Force while also serving as the military's first responders in domestic crises-is a challenge we accept.

Without hesitation, during Operations MIDNIGHT HAMMER and EPIC FURY, National Guard crews delivered decisive blows to Iran in lockstep with our joint partners.

In Operation ABSOLUTE RESOLVE, the National Guard fought against narco-terrorism. At home, we responded daily, totaling 2.4 million hours of direct support to our fellow citizens.

Your National Guard is an indispensable return on investment for America. We represent 20% of the Joint Force, yet we operate on less than 4% of the department's budget-only 4%.

Our decisive response is only possible if our Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen train with modernized equipment, fully interoperable with the Joint Force. To sustain strategic dominance, we must modernize concurrently with our services to aggressively outpace and overmatch tomorrow's threats with robust investments today.

This year, I remain laser-focused on sharpening our fighting edge to increase our Guardsmen's readiness and bolster our capabilities for our core missions of homeland defense, warfighting and partnerships.

We must train and modernize in lockstep with the active components. This requires sufficient and predictable resources in flying hours, weapons systems sustainment, facilities sustainment, base operations support and NGREA.

When we use these resources to serve our citizens in a state active duty status, current policy sends reimbursement funds back to the Treasury. We ask for your support in restoring that readiness directly back to our formations.

Our warfighters are our most critical asset, and to support their service, we must enact duty status reform and compensate equal work with equal pay and benefits.

It is imperative that our warfighters are supported by a modernized and properly resourced full-time force. The antiquated dual-status technician program of the 1960s fails to support modern force structure, creating readiness gaps and workforce instability. Without a thorough revision of our full-time force, we jeopardize readiness for missions now, much less the increasingly complex requirements of the future.

The strength of the Citizen-Soldier and Airman is amplified through a network of partnerships, which begins in hometowns and reaches across the globe.

The jewel of this effort is the State Partnership Program, which connects the department with nearly 60% of the world's countries at merely 1% of the theater security cooperation budget. Your help with flexible, multi-year budget authority will allow us to sustain the pace of these highly effective engagements.

While threats are unpredictable, our readiness is not. We are the indispensable core of the Joint Force, built to respond with speed, power and precision. We are stronger together because we are integrated at every level.

In closing, I want to again thank this committee. Your unwavering support ensures a secure tomorrow for all Americans. Let us continue to support and pray for our warfighters in harm's way. We stand by them and their families and are thankful for their service.

We will always keep our promise to the nation and to our citizens to be Always Ready, Always There.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.