A group of Republican U.S. senators sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Budget Committee expressing their support for the $750 billion defense request in President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget.
The senators – including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) — said the funding is necessary to ensure the military is prepared for national security challenges.
“Over the past two years Congress, in concert with the Trump Administration, has made great strides in rebuilding our nation’s military. However, due to the severity of the threats we face, much more work remains. As such, we write in support of the President’s budget request for $750 billion in defense spending in Fiscal Year 2020. Given the challenges we face from great-power competitors, rogue states, and extremist organizations, fully funding at $750 billion our brave servicemembers is crucial to ensuring that they have everything they need to protect our nation and its interests,” they wrote to committee chair Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
They added that even accounting for the increased defense budgets of the last two years, the 2011 Budget Control Act resulted in a net $539 billion in cuts to then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s spending plan.
“Thankfully, the Administration and the Congress have been up to the task of rebuilding our military. The bipartisan steps we have taken – increasing defense spending in 2018 and 2019 to $700 billion and $716 billion respectively – show our nation’s collective ability to recognize and respond to the threats we now face,” the senators wrote. “The Service Secretaries have uniformly reported that progress is being made in recovering our military’s readiness. A sustained robust defense budget continues to build on the bipartisan progress we have made to ensure our troops remain ready in the short-term, but still have the new technologies they will need to fight on the modern battlefield.”
They also cited the fact that adversaries like China and Russia continue to grow their militaries, develop modern technologies, and expand their sphere of influence. Meanwhile, North Korea and Iran still loom as regional threats and violent extremism endures as a persistent challenge.
“In the face of these threats, the United States military stands ready prevent conflict, deter attack, and, if necessary, to defend the nation. Robust and predictable funding will demonstrate that we stand with them, today and into the future,” the senators concluded.