Senate Returns To Glaring Unfinished Business On National Defense
‘Needless to say, with August behind us, Congress’ own unfinished business has become even more glaring. The President’s meager defense budget request was already an insufficient starting point for topline funding discussions when they began months ago… Our adversaries are resolved to exploit American weakness and hesitation. And we’ve given them quite enough.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding national security priorities:
“The challenges facing an American-led order and American interests around the world are no less serious, nor less connected, than they were the last time the Senate convened.
“Last week, Iran was expected to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia in a major expansion of its support for Putin’s war in Ukraine. The PRC is ramping up its destabilizing provocations in the South China Sea. And Russia, for its part, continues to court the fealty of senior officials from a NATO ally, Hungary.
“And our adversaries’ advances have been compounded by the West’s own inaction, distraction, and astonishing lapses in moral clarity.
“In recent days, the head of UNRWA, whose employees participated in the slaughter of Jews on October 7th, insisted that deserved criticism of his organization’s complicity in terrorism was, itself, tantamount to ‘a weapon’ in the war.
“The Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom’s new government announced a suspension of some 30 licenses of military aid to Israel, just as the world’s only Jewish state buried hostages – including a young American citizen – who were murdered in cold blood by Hamas.
“This step – and calls for similar restrictions on our own assistance – validate the terrorists’ strategy and broadcast the weakness of our resolve.
“And in a bizarre public message, even by its own standards, the Biden-Harris Administration urged the Houthi terrorists holding international commerce hostage in the Red Sea to think about the consequences of their blockade for the environment.
“Needless to say, with August behind us, Congress’ own unfinished business has become even more glaring.
“The President’s meager defense budget request was already an insufficient starting point for topline funding discussions when they began months ago.
“Today, constraints on Congress’ ability to provide for the common defense are even more dangerous, and demands for parity with non-defense discretionary spending even more reckless.
“Meanwhile, continued failure to process the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act puts the lie to any suggestion that the Senate Democratic majority is focused on urgent business.
“The authoritarians conspiring to supplant American-led peace and prosperity did not ease up while the Senate was in recess. Our adversaries are resolved to exploit American weakness and hesitation. And we’ve given them quite enough.”
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Related Issues: Iran, Russia, China, National Security
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