Mitch McConnell Calls For Major Changes To 'Grossly Insufficient' Defense Spending Package

4 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke about defense appropriation negotiations.

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Transcript

00:00Matter today the Appropriations Committee is considering defense funding for the coming year.

00:06From the outset, colleagues who take seriously our obligation to provide for the common defense

00:13knew that they had their work cut out for them. This spring, the President sent them a fourth

00:19straight defense request that would cut funding for the National Defense after Fletcher. The

00:26request was grossly insufficient when it went to print. It's even more so today.

00:36Then the summer brought our closest allies and partners here to Washington,

00:43underscoring the importance of American leadership by example. And just a few days ago,

00:50a final report of the Commission on National Defense Strategy put an even finer point

00:56on the stakes of the growing and interconnected threats to our national security. As I discussed

01:04earlier this week, the bipartisan expert panel behind the report delivered a grave warning.

01:11Here's more of what they said. The U.S. military, quote,

01:18lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail

01:30in combat. The American public have been, quote, again, according to the report,

01:38inadequately, inadequately informed by government leaders of the threats to U.S. interests,

01:45including to people's everyday lives and what will be required to restore American global power

01:53and leadership. They went on further. Very little progress will be possible without Congress,

01:59where a relatively small number of elected officials have imposed

02:04continual political gamesmanship over thoughtful and responsible legislating and oversight.

02:12Goodness. It's past time to prioritize our national security. It's totally obvious to all of us

02:22this needs to begin. Just take the patient threat from China, for example. Plenty of our colleagues

02:29on both sides of the aisle like to talk about outcompeting the PRC, but not as many seem to

02:38recognize that winning this competition, preserving American promise, and protecting America's

02:45interests are first and foremost about investing in hard power. As the commission put it,

02:55China has, quote, largely negated the U.S. military advantage in the Western Pacific

03:03through two decades of focused military investment. Without significant change by

03:10the United States, the balance of power will continue to shift in China's favor.

03:17But the vast majority of supposed counter China policies that folks in Washington like to talk

03:24about won't do much to address, to arrest the shift. And neither will pretending that pacing

03:34threat is the only threat we face. It's naive to believe we can ignore or assume away threats in

03:42other regions. Anyone who believes our security and prosperity don't require urgent investments

03:47in hard power, in alliances and partnerships, and in our defense industrial base clearly don't know

03:56what they're talking about. So I'm grateful to my friend, Vice Chair Collins, and to colleagues

04:04on the Appropriations Committee who recognize the urgency of the task in front of us.

04:10They're fighting hard to negate as much of the President's real dollar cut to national defense

04:17as they could. The bill in committee right now exceeds the President's request by nearly $19

04:24billion. This is less than the additional $25 billion authorized by the Armed Services Committee.

04:33Senate Democrats refuse to spend more on defense without adding funding for non-defense discretionary

04:39programs. However, thanks to our colleagues' efforts, this bill secures crucial steps forward

04:48on a number of urgent priorities. The bill includes the largest ever appropriation for shipbuilding,

04:57with hundreds of millions in new resources for growing and retaining the critical ship

05:02building industrial base. It tackles maintenance backlogs head-on and invests in enough spare

05:11components to bring 500 more aircraft to full readiness than the President's request

05:18accounts for. It goes $3 billion beyond his request for overdue investments in expanding

05:25the defense industrial base and provides for modernizing ammunition and vehicle production

05:31facilities from Iowa and Missouri to Ohio and Tennessee. And it delivers important downpayments

05:40on critical munitions from the long-range and precision strike capabilities needed in the

05:46Indo-Pacific to the naval interceptors required to defend U.S. personnel and global commerce from

05:54terrorist attacks in the Red Sea. But let's be absolutely clear when it comes to rebuilding our

06:04stockpiles and preparing our armed forces to deter and defeat threats. There is much, much more work

06:15to be done. There is no serious reading of post-World War II history that doesn't trace

06:21the preservation of Western peace or the growth of American prosperity to an order

06:28underpinned by American strength. The U.S. military is the reason our neighbors back home sleep in

06:36peace. It's the reason our communities reap the benefits of global trade. It's the weight

06:44behind our leader's words. We cannot afford to shortchange it

06:51and I cannot make the stakes of the task before us any more clear.

Mitch McConnell Calls For Major Changes To 'Grossly Insufficient' Defense Spending Package

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