McConnell on NDAA: Can’t Surge Readiness. Time To Invest In Deterrence
‘A serious roadmap for preserving our military primacy is on the table. The question now is whether the Senate will follow it. Whether we’ll lay the groundwork right now for urgent investments in critical munitions, long-range fires, seapower, and in the defense industrial base required to sustain all of it for long-term strategic competition.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the National Defense Authorization Act:
“This week, the Armed Services Committee has been marking up the National Defense Authorization Act for the coming year.
“In the past, the Committee has prided itself on considering hundreds of amendments and thoroughly exercising Congress’ oversight responsibilities in the process. I expect this year to be no different.
“But one essential question hangs over both the NDAA and the appropriations process to come: Is Congress ready to fulfill our most fundamental responsibility of adequately providing for the common defense?
“This, of course, remains an open question. For a fourth straight year, the process of funding the federal government began with a White House budget proposal that would impose net cuts to the national defense.
“I’ve said it before: how can we expect to keep up with the pacing threat, the PRC, if our military budgets don’t even keep pace with inflation?
“I know a number of our Democratic colleagues recognize that the threats we face are growing and that our defense requirements are growing along with them.
“But they don’t seem to be ready to respond with any urgency.
“Senate Democrats continue to indicate that they’ll stick to their longstanding demand for artificial parity between defense and non-defense appropriations for any increases above the President’s budget.
“It’s time for all of us to face facts. The threats we face have grown since the bipartisan budget caps were negotiated. They’ve grown since the President’s budget was drafted.
“The defense of Israel and Ukraine continue to offer lessons on the glaring need for modern air and missile defenses.
“We’ve learned how insufficient our inventories of critical long-range munitions might be in the event of a direct conflict in the Pacific.
“And with the risk of simultaneous conflict in multiple regions growing, the enduring importance of the two-war force planning construct is making itself abundantly clear.
“This is the reality our colleague, Ranking Member Wicker, was grappling with when he put together a detailed plan for an overdue generational investment in the national defense. And I’m grateful to my friend for his leadership.
“A serious roadmap for preserving our military primacy is on the table. The question now is whether the Senate will follow it.
“Whether we’ll lay the groundwork right now for urgent investments in critical munitions, long-range fires, seapower, and in the defense industrial base required to sustain all of it for long-term strategic competition.
“Way back in 1940, when the scope of the Axis threat was finally so glaringly obvious that even longtime skeptics began to soften their opposition to long-overdue military investment, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Harold Stark, pointed out a harsh reality: ‘Dollars cannot buy yesterday.’
“We’re already facing a steep uphill climb to prepare America’s armed forces to deter aggression and out-compete our adversaries.
“We can’t surge readiness. We can’t modernize overnight. ‘Yesterday’ is right now. And it’s time to invest in what we need to deter and defeat looming threats.
“So I’ll be watching our colleagues’ work closely, and I’ll urge the Democratic Leader to bring the NDAA to the floor for consideration as soon as the Committee completes its work.”
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Related Issues: China, National Security, Iran, America's Military, Russia
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