With Lara Seligman and Daniel Lippman

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Quick Fix

— Pentagon leaders are fending off congressional criticism of the president’s defense budget.

— The Senate Armed Services Committee approves the nominee for Air Force secretary, along with six other people tapped for top posts.

— The full House is slated to vote on repealing the 2002 Iraq War authorization next week.

HAPPY FRIDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where we're always on the lookout for tips, pitches and feedback. Email us at [email protected], [email protected], and follow on Twitter @connorobriennh, @bryandbender, @morningdefense and @politicopro.

On the Hill

HARD CHOICES OR BAD CHOICES?: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley defended the Biden administration's $715 billion defense budget to Congress on Thursday and the many financial trade-offs the blueprint makes.

In their first appearance on Capitol Hill since the budget release, the pair took heat from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the flat trajectory of defense spending, plans to mothball older weapons, how best to spend money meant for deterring China, and Navy discussions on defunding a planned nuclear-tipped cruise missile. Here are some highlights:

Budget topline: As expected, Republicans criticized President Joe Biden's largely flat defense budget topline. SASC ranking GOP member Jim Inhofe has been cheerleading for a more dramatic boost for months. The Oklahoma Republican said he's concerned deterrence against China could fail under a lower level of defense spending and "the cost will be much higher than any investment we could make today to prevent it."

"We’re not making hard choices,” he said. “We’re making bad and short-sighted choices."

Austin and Milley argued throughout the hearing that, despite acknowledging tough choices and assuming some risks, the topline will ultimately buy the U.S. a solid national defense.

"In every single budget I've seen, we're always making hard choices," Milley told senators. "But in my professional opinion, a $715 billion budget, as long as we are disciplined in its application and we adhere to the priorities that we've established, will provide for the defense of the United States."

'Platform-centric': Democrats and Republicans raked the Pentagon's $5.1 billion request for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, arguing the proposal is out of step with the capabilities outlined by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command this year. SASC Chair Jack Reed complained the Pentagon's proposal was too focused on hardware that could be funded elsewhere in the budget and indicated lawmakers will significantly rewrite the account, which was meant to beef up U.S. presence and deter China in the region.

"I am concerned that the department’s budget request takes a heavily platform-centric approach to PDI, and I look forward to working collaboratively with DoD leadership to more appropriately align resources in the DoD budget with our intent for PDI," Reed said.

Still, Austin argued the Pentagon's funding decisions matched Congress' intent and touted the emphasis on deterring China in the broader budget, but added he'll work with lawmakers on a path forward.

Not consulted: The pair also told the panel that they weren't consulted on an internal Navy memo proposing to defund a future nuclear-tipped cruise missile and said that decision should not be made outside of an upcoming formal weapons review.

When questioned by Sen. Deb Fischer about the directive, both Austin and Milley said they had not seen the memo. Austin said it "has to be pre-decisional" because the Pentagon has not yet begun a review of its nuclear posture. He agreed with Fischer that issuing such a directive without consulting department leaders, combatant commanders or other agencies is "not the right way to make decisions about nuclear policy."

Read the Pro transcript of the hearing.

Related: Austin, Milley defend weapons cuts in Biden’s defense budget, via Defense News.

Also: Cotton, Pentagon chief tangle over diversity training in military, via The Hill.

HOUSE TEES UP AUMF VOTE: The House will vote on legislation when it returns to Washington next week to repeal the 2002 Iraq War authorization, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced. The repeal, offered by Rep. Barbara Lee, has gained bipartisan traction and is seen by advocates as a needed war powers house cleaning ahead of a much more arduous effort to rewrite the 2001 AUMF.

"Congress enacted this authorization nineteen years ago for an action against the regime of Saddam Hussein. It is not needed for any current operations, including in Iraq," Hoyer wrote in a June forecast for the House. "Repeal of this unnecessary authority is long overdue."

DEFENSE AS INFRASTRUCTURE, PT. 2: Thirteen House lawmakers fired off a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging the inclusion of money to modernize defense industrial base facilities — such as depot, arsenals and shipyards — as well as defense labs and test ranges and facilities in an infrastructure package. The bipartisan group is pitching the rehab of aging defense facilities as key to both the health of the defense industrial base and meeting future national security needs.

"While the Biden Infrastructure proposal did not include any request for funding of these facilities, we strongly believe that the quality of these facilities is critical to the broader Biden Administration goals of addressing long-standing maintenance backlogs and reducing our dependence on foreign sources of materials," they wrote.

The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Cheri Bustos and Blake Moore, who co-chair the House Military Depot and Industrial Facilities Caucus. Several senior House Armed Services members also signed on, including Reps. Anthony Brown, Mike Turner, Vicky Hartzler, Doug Lamborn and Joe Wilson.

The effort was first reported by your Morning D correspondent as part of the burgeoning effort to fund defense projects in an eventual infrastructure package.

HAPPENING TODAY

The House Armed Services Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee holds a hearing on Defense Department intelligence programs with Undersecretary for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie, U.S. Cyber Command chief and NSA director Gen. Paul Nakasone and Defense Intelligence Agency director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier at 11 a.m.

Pentagon

NOMINEES ADVANCE: Senate Armed Services approved seven nominees for senior national security positions on Thursday, including Frank Kendall, Biden’s pick to be Air Force secretary. Kendall, a former top Pentagon weapons buyer during the Obama administration, would be the second civilian service secretary confirmed if the full Senate signs off.

Other nominees approved: Heidi Shyu to be undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, Susanna Blume to lead the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, Deborah Rosenblum to be assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological defense, Christopher Maier to be the Pentagon's top civilian overseeing special operations forces, Jill Hruby to be director the National Nuclear Security Administration, Frank Rose to be the No. 2 leader at NNSA.

Trouble ahead? Nominees with ties to the defense industry could face a rocky road to confirmation unless they make more extensive commitments to distance themselves from their former employers. Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, an industry critic who has opposed past nominees over their connections to major defense contractors, warned Austin on Thursday that she'll vote against pending nominees that don't make similar commitments as the Pentagon chief did during his confirmation process.

"I'm still in conversation with the current nominees where I think these commitments are warranted, and I hope that we can come to an understanding," Warren told Austin. "In these cases going forward, if nominees with significant ties to the defense industry refuse to make the commitments you made, then I will vote no in this committee on their nominations and I will ask for a roll call vote on the floor where I will vote no again."

Under questioning from Warren during his own confirmation hearing, Austin committed to extending his recusal from decisions that affect Raytheon Technologies, where he was a board member, for four years, well beyond the required one year he initially agreed to. He said he won't seek employment as a lobbyist or sit on the board of a defense contractor after leaving the Pentagon. Austin also said he'd exhaust all alternatives before seeking a waiver from his recusal.

Austin stopped short of endorsing those additional commitments for others, saying he has "no concerns" about the ethical behavior of nominees. Warren didn't specify which nominees she'd oppose. Her office didn't respond to a request for comment.

'ABSOLUTELY CONCERNED': Austin also told lawmakers he shared their concerns about Iranian Navy ships steaming across the Atlantic and possibly transferring weapons to Venezuela, POLITICO's Lara Seligman, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Andrew Desiderio report for Pros. The comment during Thursday's SASC hearing marks the first time the Pentagon chief has spoken publicly about the ships’ movement.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal said allowing the ships to dock would be “significant” on many levels, including that it would mark the first time Iranian naval vessels had completed the arduous journey across the Atlantic.

Austin said he shares Blumenthal’s concerns, adding that “I am absolutely concerned about the proliferation of weapons, any type of weapons, in our neighborhood.”

Making Moves

Christopher Ford is now senior adviser for geopolitical policy and strategy at MITRE Laboratories. He most recently performed the duties of undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.

Speed Read

— Pro Q&A: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson: POLITICO Pro

— As military addresses diversity, Republicans see culture war target: The New York Times

— Guardsman killed in F-16C crash became disoriented, distracted, safety report says: Air Force Times

— Biden cyber nominees say time has likely come for more regulation: POLITICO Pro

— Treasury trims individuals, energy companies from Iran sanctions list: POLITICO Pro

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