Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The House Armed Services Committee and a fifty five to
vote advancing its draft to the Fiscal Year twenty twenty
six National Defense Authorization Act with key policy provisions that
formalize Pentagon procurement of commercial satellite imagery and back to the
Trump Administration's Golden Dole missile defense program despite Democratic skepticism.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Colorado Congressman Jason Kroster is on that House Armed Services
Committee and champion fifteen of the provisions that have been
successfully included in the annual Act, and he joins us
now in the KOA Common Spirit Health Hotline. Congressman, good morning.
What are the provisions that you worked on that you
feel are the most important and significant?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, good morning, Thanks for having me. This is one
of the most important things that I do in my job.
You both as a combat veteran, but also somebody that
represents a big defense and military and space community. About
thirty thousand people that I represent work in the aerospace
and defense and space industry, so I take that really seriously.
This year, I really I focused on three different areas.
(00:56):
One is quality of life for our service members, so
extending dental care for our reservists and our National guards men,
and women, focusing on preventing and treating traumatic brain injuries,
and providing new technology for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries,
both for our service members and our patterns. The second
key area was our space and aerospace industry, which is
(01:19):
huge for Colorado. So modernizing the way that our government
buys space technology, investing in space awareness, which is something
that we actually do a lot of in Colorado. Then
the third critical areas modernize our military, so better equipment,
better systems, a better way of procuring buying technology so
(01:39):
that it's cheaper, it's quicker, it's more effective for our
national defense. So those are the three big buckets that
I focused on this year.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Congressman, I'm going to focus on the second one here
for a moment. You talk about investing in Colorado space industry.
Was the future of Space Command headquarters discussed in any
way or any updates on what we're doing in order
the efforts to keep it here in our state.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
By design, did not bring it up during this process,
which is actually a good thing for Colorado. The chairman
of the committee is actually from Alabama, which is not
helpful for Colorado's So I worked with the colorad of delegation,
and we actually ensure that during this process it was
not raised and it was not debated, because right now
it is in Colorado, it's fully operationally capable, it has
(02:24):
all the personnel that it needs, it's doing the work,
and that's exactly the way we want it. You know,
the status quo is good for us right now, and
maintaining that status quo is important. So changes do not
work in our favor, and we were able to successfully
make sure that there weren't any changes this week in
the process.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Part of this Authorization Act, as we said getting into you,
is an authorization to keep the Golden Dome Missile Defense
System program in something that the present is advocated for.
Do you have a feeling either way about that Golden
Dome initiative.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, I'm very skeptical of this. So this is a
tens of billions of dollar program, program that our military
commanders in the Pentagon aren't even asking for. It's a
program that's very similar to something that was called Star
Wars in the nineteen eighties under President Reagan, which wasted
tens of billions of dollars. You know, all the missile experts,
(03:15):
the defense experts, the people that I talked to and
work with regularly about how to best protect the homeland,
how to best ensure that you know, we're protecting our
space and aerospace. Are scratching their heads. They said, this
is not something that they've talked about. This is not
what they think is the best way to do it.
This appears to be an initiative that President Trump came
(03:37):
up with, and I just don't want to spend or
waste taxpayer dollars. Now, you know, I'm always open to
new ideas. You know, I don't have a monopoly. Nobody
has a monopoly on good ideas. But we need to
talk about it. We need to actually see what is
the plan, How is this going to work? Is there
proof that this is actually a viable solution before we dump,
(03:57):
you know, thirty billion dollars into it. That's the I
want to go to. And if they can show us
proof this is actually a viable, good investment of taxpaer dollars,
then okay, I'm willing to have that conversation. But I
just haven't seen that yet.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
We know you are someone who is against the one,
Big Beautiful Bill, but I know that the Big Beautiful
Bill is correct me if I'm wrong, did have one
hundred and fifty billion dollars boost to the Department of Defense.
So in a sense, did the Pentagon benefit off of it?
And are some of these provisions able because of it?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I disagreed with that bill, and I disagreed with that
one hundred and fifty billion dollars boost because the Pentagon
didn't ask for that money. I mean, this is crazy.
They literally did not ask for that money. This is money.
This is basically a slush fund that Congress gave to
the Pentagon to use with very few restrictions, with very
few guidelines about how it should be asked. And I
(04:48):
just don't want to waste taxpayer dollars on that.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
If we're going to give money to any agency, department, offense,
you know, fill a blank anything, it needs to be
really clear about what we're giving that money for, how
it's supposed to be used, how it's supposed to be
used efficiently. Giving one hundred and fifty billion dollars slush
fund without really any clear guidelines is not the way
that we make our government more efficient than we're good
(05:14):
stewards of the tax payer dollar.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I know you've been a big advocate of supporting Ukraine.
The latest with that, obviously, as you full know, is
that we are arming Ukraine again. I still trying to
figure out essentially why we stop sending arms, but now
that's back on. But we're doing it via NATO, something
the President that got through or initiated. How do you
feel about that?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, I'm glad that we're doing this again, because this
isn't the best interests of our national security, you know,
protecting our allies and our partners and ensuring that their's
stability and peace in Europe is actually in America's best interest.
There's no doubt about it. And I'm glad that President
Trump has started to resume that. And I'm actually glad
that we worked out a deal so that others can
chip in more and pay for it too. I think
(05:53):
this is actually a good thing. This is a beneficial thing.
What's bad is that it took seven months, and there
were delays in process and during which thousands of Ukrainians
have been killed. The Russians have continued to take territory
that belongs to Ukraine. A lot of bad things have
happened in this period. And Donald Trump just said on Tuesday,
(06:15):
I think he said, Wow, I'm surprised that I can't
take Vladimir Putin for his work. Well, what the heck?
Everybody knows you can't take Vladimir Putin for his worry.
He's a brutal dictator. He lies, he says one thing
and then does another. Everybody knows that this is how
he's operated for decades. So the fact that it's taken
at least seven months perhaps more down the road for
(06:39):
Trump to come to this realization is his head scratching,
to say.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
The least.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Final question is just because it's all over the news cycle. Obviously,
I know you're aware about it, But do you care.
Do your constituents and your district care at all about
the Epstein files?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, some folks do, and you know it's it's I
would like them released. I've been calling for them the
release because I think people deserve transparency, they deserve accountability,
and you know, whether it's Ebstein files or something else,
I just always believe that unless something is classified or
have some kind of, you know, viable reason why it
(07:14):
can't be made public for our national security, of which
this does not fall into that category, people deserve to
know the truth and you know, President Trump and the
people around him are actually right years ago when they
called for the release of this, and people are right
now and calling to the release of it. So, you know,
let's release those files and people can see the truth
(07:34):
and see what it is and it isn't and we
can you know, put this, put this issue aside. But
you know, the larger issue is about trans government, transparency
and corruption. You know, why say one thing and then
do another, you know, just be consistent and do the
right thing and release stuff that the public has the
right to know.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Congressman Jason Crow, thank you so much for your time.
The House Armed Services Committee and a fifty five to
vote advancing its draft to the Fiscal Year twenty twenty
six National Defense Authorization Act with key policy provisions that
formalize Pentagon procurement of commercial satellite imagery and back to the
Trump Administration's Golden Dole missile defense program despite Democratic skepticism.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Colorado Congressman Jason Kroster is on that House Armed Services
Committee and champion fifteen of the provisions that have been
successfully included in the annual Act, and he joins us
now in the KOA Common Spirit Health Hotline. Congressman, good morning.
What are the provisions that you worked on that you
feel are the most important and significant?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, good morning, Thanks for having me. This is one
of the most important things that I do in my job.
You both as a combat veteran, but also somebody that
represents a big defense and military and space community. About
thirty thousand people that I represent work in the aerospace
and defense and space industry, so I take that really seriously.
This year, I really I focused on three different areas.
(00:56):
One is quality of life for our service members, so
extending dental care for our reservists and our National guards men,
and women, focusing on preventing and treating traumatic brain injuries,
and providing new technology for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries,
both for our service members and our patterns. The second
key area was our space and aerospace industry, which is
(01:19):
huge for Colorado. So modernizing the way that our government
buys space technology, investing in space awareness, which is something
that we actually do a lot of in Colorado. Then
the third critical areas modernize our military, so better equipment,
better systems, a better way of procuring buying technology so
(01:39):
that it's cheaper, it's quicker, it's more effective for our
national defense. So those are the three big buckets that
I focused on this year.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Congressman, I'm going to focus on the second one here
for a moment. You talk about investing in Colorado space industry.
Was the future of Space Command headquarters discussed in any
way or any updates on what we're doing in order
the efforts to keep it here in our state.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
By design, did not bring it up during this process,
which is actually a good thing for Colorado. The chairman
of the committee is actually from Alabama, which is not
helpful for Colorado's So I worked with the colorad of delegation,
and we actually ensure that during this process it was
not raised and it was not debated, because right now
it is in Colorado, it's fully operationally capable, it has
(02:24):
all the personnel that it needs, it's doing the work,
and that's exactly the way we want it. You know,
the status quo is good for us right now, and
maintaining that status quo is important. So changes do not
work in our favor, and we were able to successfully
make sure that there weren't any changes this week in
the process.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Part of this Authorization Act, as we said getting into you,
is an authorization to keep the Golden Dome Missile Defense
System program in something that the present is advocated for.
Do you have a feeling either way about that Golden
Dome initiative.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, I'm very skeptical of this. So this is a
tens of billions of dollar program, program that our military
commanders in the Pentagon aren't even asking for. It's a
program that's very similar to something that was called Star
Wars in the nineteen eighties under President Reagan, which wasted
tens of billions of dollars. You know, all the missile experts,
(03:15):
the defense experts, the people that I talked to and
work with regularly about how to best protect the homeland,
how to best ensure that you know, we're protecting our
space and aerospace. Are scratching their heads. They said, this
is not something that they've talked about. This is not
what they think is the best way to do it.
This appears to be an initiative that President Trump came
(03:37):
up with, and I just don't want to spend or
waste taxpayer dollars. Now, you know, I'm always open to
new ideas. You know, I don't have a monopoly. Nobody
has a monopoly on good ideas. But we need to
talk about it. We need to actually see what is
the plan, How is this going to work? Is there
proof that this is actually a viable solution before we dump,
(03:57):
you know, thirty billion dollars into it. That's the I
want to go to. And if they can show us
proof this is actually a viable, good investment of taxpaer dollars,
then okay, I'm willing to have that conversation. But I
just haven't seen that yet.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
We know you are someone who is against the one,
Big Beautiful Bill, but I know that the Big Beautiful
Bill is correct me if I'm wrong, did have one
hundred and fifty billion dollars boost to the Department of Defense.
So in a sense, did the Pentagon benefit off of it?
And are some of these provisions able because of it?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
I disagreed with that bill, and I disagreed with that
one hundred and fifty billion dollars boost because the Pentagon
didn't ask for that money. I mean, this is crazy.
They literally did not ask for that money. This is money.
This is basically a slush fund that Congress gave to
the Pentagon to use with very few restrictions, with very
few guidelines about how it should be asked. And I
(04:48):
just don't want to waste taxpayer dollars on that.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
If we're going to give money to any agency, department, offense,
you know, fill a blank anything, it needs to be
really clear about what we're giving that money for, how
it's supposed to be used, how it's supposed to be
used efficiently. Giving one hundred and fifty billion dollars slush
fund without really any clear guidelines is not the way
that we make our government more efficient than we're good
(05:14):
stewards of the tax payer dollar.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I know you've been a big advocate of supporting Ukraine.
The latest with that, obviously, as you full know, is
that we are arming Ukraine again. I still trying to
figure out essentially why we stop sending arms, but now
that's back on. But we're doing it via NATO, something
the President that got through or initiated. How do you
feel about that?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, I'm glad that we're doing this again, because this
isn't the best interests of our national security, you know,
protecting our allies and our partners and ensuring that their's
stability and peace in Europe is actually in America's best interest.
There's no doubt about it. And I'm glad that President
Trump has started to resume that. And I'm actually glad
that we worked out a deal so that others can
chip in more and pay for it too. I think
(05:53):
this is actually a good thing. This is a beneficial thing.
What's bad is that it took seven months, and there
were delays in process and during which thousands of Ukrainians
have been killed. The Russians have continued to take territory
that belongs to Ukraine. A lot of bad things have
happened in this period. And Donald Trump just said on Tuesday,
(06:15):
I think he said, Wow, I'm surprised that I can't
take Vladimir Putin for his work. Well, what the heck?
Everybody knows you can't take Vladimir Putin for his worry.
He's a brutal dictator. He lies, he says one thing
and then does another. Everybody knows that this is how
he's operated for decades. So the fact that it's taken
at least seven months perhaps more down the road for
(06:39):
Trump to come to this realization is his head scratching,
to say.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
The least.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Final question is just because it's all over the news cycle. Obviously,
I know you're aware about it, But do you care.
Do your constituents and your district care at all about
the Epstein files?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yeah, some folks do, and you know it's it's I
would like them released. I've been calling for them the
release because I think people deserve transparency, they deserve accountability,
and you know, whether it's Ebstein files or something else,
I just always believe that unless something is classified or
have some kind of, you know, viable reason why it
(07:14):
can't be made public for our national security, of which
this does not fall into that category, people deserve to
know the truth and you know, President Trump and the
people around him are actually right years ago when they
called for the release of this, and people are right
now and calling to the release of it. So, you know,
let's release those files and people can see the truth
(07:34):
and see what it is and it isn't and we
can you know, put this, put this issue aside. But
you know, the larger issue is about trans government, transparency
and corruption. You know, why say one thing and then
do another, you know, just be consistent and do the
right thing and release stuff that the public has the
right to know.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Congressman Jason Crow, thank you so much for your time.
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