Transcript of Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi’s Opening Statement from Hearing on Rebuilding the Arsenal of Democracy: The Imperative to Strengthen America’s Defense Industrial Base and Workforce

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a hearing to understand how to deter aggression by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and how America must rapidly revitalize its defense production capacity, incentivize innovation, and secure its supply chains against exposure to the PRC. The following witnesses provided testimony: 

• Chris Brose, Chief Strategy Officer, Anduril Industries
• William Greenwalt, Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
• Halimah Najieb-Locke, Vice President of Policy and Strategy, Entanglement, Inc.

Below is a transcript (as prepared) of the opening statement from Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). Footage of the Ranking Member’s opening statement can be found here, and his questions to the witnesses can be found here. Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi’s line of questioning focused on the PRC ramping up defense production as part of a massive military buildup, signaling Beijing’s ambitions to retake Taiwan and other territory with the risk of involving the U.S. military in a major conflict. 

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Recent polling shows that a majority of voters think there is at least a 50/50 chance of war with China happening within the next 10 years. From the same study, we see that almost 80% of voters believe we should do everything we can in our power to prevent a war with China. 

This finding cuts across party lines—whether people are Democrats, Independents, or Republicans.

This is one of the primary missions of this committee—to prevent war while winning our strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP.

But to prevent war and win the competition, we have to be strong. And part of being strong is having a robust defense industrial base that deters aggression by our adversaries.

I want to show you a couple of visuals, one that shows U.S. defense spending immediately around the time of WWII, and then another that shows our defense production since WWII. 

As you can see, coming out of WWI, our defense industrial base weakened—and continued to be weak throughout the entire interwar period—and Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan noticed. This picture here invited Pearl Harbor and the start of WWII.

Now as you can see on my second chart, this pattern repeats itself. The industrial base strengthened in WWII, then weakened again precipitously, inviting yet another war—this time in Korea.

Then again, we see this pattern. Our industrial base strengthened for Korea, and then weakened, which invited increased support from the CCP and the Soviet Union for Communist insurgencies across Southeast Asia, and led us into the disastrous Vietnam War.

Folks, the lesson of this history is this: we cannot invest in our defense industrial base only after a conflict begins. Dictators notice when our industrial base weakens—that’s when bad things tend to happen.

A couple weeks ago, our committee ran a simulation that showed we may be inviting aggression yet again, this time in the Indo-Pacific, because of the large gaps between the U.S. and China in our production capacity for key defense systems. 

It turns out that one reason for this gap is that the U.S. defense industrial base currently relies on—of all nations—China for essential components and materials.

One of these vulnerabilities is our supply of critical minerals, which we need in order to produce modern weapons systems. Unfortunately, the CCP has a monopoly over many of these materials, as you can see here—including gallium, antimony, and germanium, to name a few.

We need antimony to harden the lead used in bullets. And gallium helps build advanced radars to counter hypersonic missiles. Just two days ago, the CCP—maybe noticing this very chart—announced it was banning exports to the U.S. of—you guessed it—these three minerals, as well as other so-called superhard materials. 

These export controls are another reminder that dictators around the world are becoming more aggressive and probing the U.S. and our allies for our weaknesses. 

While our defense industries struggle to support Ukraine while deterring aggression in the Indo-Pacific, the CCP is pursuing what some have called “the most extensive … [military] buildup since World War II.” And Vladimir Putin has transformed Russia’s economy into a war economy.

Today’s hearing is not about going to war. It is about preventing war from happening in the first place. 

History tells us we need a healthy defense industrial base now to deter aggression and make sure the world’s dictators think again before dragging the U.S. and the world into yet another disastrous conflict.  

Thank you, and I yield back.

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