03.12.24

Senator Sullivan Statement on President Biden’s Proposed Defense Budget

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), released the following statement in response to President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget request:

“Since President Biden assumed office, global chaos has spread, with the dictators from Russia, China, and Iran acting with greater impunity. In each of those four years, President Biden has proposed inflation-adjusted cuts to defense spending.

“This latest budget proposal thrusts the United States into even more dangerous territory—it puts the United States on track for our defense spending to drop below three percent of GDP for only the fourth time since World War II, which occurred in the years following the end of the Cold War.

“The President proposes using budget gimmicks and accounting tricks to spend billions above spending caps for non-defense programs, but makes significant cuts to, among other programs, the Missile Defense Agency and our submarine fleet, and slashes new orders of fighter jets—including F-35s. Meanwhile, he’s funding more than one hundred million dollars to cater to his far-left base—including a diversity, equity, and inclusion office in the Pentagon that has nothing to do with winning wars and lethality.

“If there ever was a time for this White House to reverse course on these weak defense proposals and deter global aggression, it is now. Jimmy Carter did this in his last year in office. We need our Commander in Chief to lead. We need a defense budget that reflects global threats—with real increases, not cuts, that improve our military readiness, and project strength, not weakness, in an increasingly dangerous world.”

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