A key Republican lawmaker criticized Pentagon and administration officials on Tuesday for failing to deliver a timely strategy for victory in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has called for $574 billion in general defense funding, with an additional $65 billion for supplemental wartime spending - for a total of $639 billion.
"Congress owes the American people a strategy", the Arizona senator said, adding that the families of three U.S soldiers killed in Afghanistan last weekend "know we don't have a strategy now". Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), advocated against pulling out of Afghanistan.
When asked about the state of the war in Afghanistan, Dunford said, "I don't assess we're in better shape than we were past year".
Of particular concern is the growing threat from Russian Federation and China, both of which are developing advanced military capabilities to prevent US forces from deploying and operating in their regions. The GOP-led Congress rebuffed the Obama administration's requests to reduce the number of military bases even though the Army and Air Force said they had vastly more space for training and basing troops than they need.
Mattis said he expected to present a revised strategy by mid-July. "We can not keep piling missions on our service members without ensuring they have all they need to succeed", Mr Thornberry said.
The top US commander in Afghanistan told Congress in February that thousands more troops would be needed to break out of the current "stalemate".
President Donald Trump has granted the Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, a USA official said yesterday, a move that could lead to the deployment of thousands more soldiers.
The 3,000 to 5,000 additional forces being discussed at the Pentagon, some of which could be sent by US allies, would be largely comprised of air crews and trainers to support Afghan forces.
"We've got to do things differently", Mr Mattis acknowledged, noting only that any Afghanistan decision would come "soon".
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"We should be finding ways to solve that problem, not throwing gasoline on the fire", Smith said.
"I don't think there's any question that unless we change the path we're on we're going to be at a competitive disadvantage qualitatively and quantitatively", Dunford said, later adding, "it affects our ability to deter conflict, it affects the confidence that our allies have in our ability to meet our commitments". "The frustration that I feel is obviously palpable".
"It makes it hard for us to support you when we don't have a strategy", McCain said.
Mattis assured McCain, "I understand the urgency; I understand it's my responsibility".
Mattis told the House Armed Services Committee that Congress hurts military readiness by using continuing resolutions to fund the Department of Defense rather than passing a full budget and not repealing sequestration. I believe the three things we are asking for stand on their own merit.
During his testimony, Mattis proposed closing down unused military bases, which he says would save $2 billion or more annually.
Such an authorisation was granted to Mattis by Trump.
"Wouldn't it be not only appropriate but essential that that be incorporated in the president's budget because the ramifications of sequestration are clearly played out in every aspect of the budget?" Russian Federation and China, he said, are both "resurgent and more aggressive", and have placed the "international order under assault".
Mattis described the automatic spending cuts, or sequestering, that the act put in place as deeply damaging, saying he was shocked by the impact on the forces' readiness to fight. "Do you sense that?" "It took us years to get into this situation".
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