Senators, commanders warn weakening alliances and cuts to soft-power tools undercut Indo-Pacific deterrence

Ranking Member Senator Reed and several other senators questioned witnesses about the role of economic and information instruments in sustaining U.S. influence. Admiral Paparo told the committee that instruments such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are important to maintaining partnership influence and that "the loss of that, the PRC would, would, see the opportunity and they would seize it."

Senators raised recent executive actions on tariffs and the reported pause on USAID activities, arguing they risk alienating allies. Senator Kaine said tariffs on close partners risk driving them closer to China and undermining allied cooperation. Admiral Paparo and other witnesses repeatedly said allies and partners are the U.S. strategic center of gravity in the Indo-Pacific and that economic and diplomatic tools enable operational access, legitimacy and coalition-building.

The committee also discussed information and cyber threats: Admiral Paparo described PRC information operations and urged resilience and redundancy in communications infrastructure, noting threats to undersea cables and the importance of low-earth-orbit and other commercial constellations for redundancy.

Why it matters: Witnesses and senators linked diplomatic and economic tools to military deterrence, saying that cutting or undermining those tools shrinks U.S. influence and opens opportunities for PRC coercion. The testimony framed policy coherence across defense, diplomatic and economic levers as necessary to maintain credible deterrence.

No votes were taken; senators said they will weigh these concerns in legislative and budget debates.