Sullivan on Face the Nation: Global Chaos Has Been Driven by Biden Administration's Weakness
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) warned in an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation”this morning that the Biden administration’s approach to national security is “not serious,” has projected “weakness,” and has resulted in “chaos” around the world. During the interview, Senator Sullivan also advocated strongly in favor of national security legislation currently being debated in Congress, noting that the legislation is principally about rebuilding the nation’s capacity to protect itself during dangerous times in which the Biden administration has undermined America’s military readiness. Sullivan cited the inflation-adjusted cuts the Biden administration has proposed year after year to America’s Department of Defense and Homeland Security budgets.
“If you look around the world, you see chaos. A lot of that, in my view, has been driven by the Biden administration's weakness,” Senator Sullivan said. “The Biden administration with regard to national security has not been serious. They cut the defense budget every year—inflation-adjusted cuts. By the way, the secretary didn't mention it. They cut Homeland Security every year, too. Those are the two areas this administration consistently cuts, weakens our homeland security, and weakens our defense. But this aid should be much more in terms of how we talk about it, in terms of the supplemental—it's less a foreign aid package and more a package about rebuilding our own industrial capacity to build weapons for ourselves.”
HOST, MARGARET BRENNAN: You have said the U.S. is in the midst of one of the most dangerous times since World War II. We just heard from the House Intelligence Committee chairman saying it is imperative to get this aid to Ukraine. They run out of ammunition soon. Are you confident Republicans can deliver this?
SENATOR DAN SULLIVAN: I voted for the supplemental—the national security supplemental—and I did for a couple of reasons. The first one is what you just said, Margaret, which is, this is a new era of authoritarian aggression. We have the dictators all around the world—Xi and Putin, Iran, the ayatollahs in Iran, North Korea—they are working together. We need a strategic response to that. It’s a very dangerous time. Second, the Biden administration with regard to national security has not been serious. They cut the defense budget every year—inflation-adjusted cuts. By the way, the secretary didn't mention it. They cut Homeland Security every year, too. Those are the two areas this administration consistently cuts, weakens our homeland security, and weakens our defense. But this aid should be much more in terms of how we talk about it, in terms of the supplemental—it's less a foreign aid package and more a package about rebuilding our own industrial capacity to build weapons for ourselves. Sixty…
BRENNAN: Mitch McConnell has said this. But it's your fellow Republicans in the House who seem skeptical, because the Democratic votes are there.
SULLIVAN: Part of the reason I'm on your show today is to talk about it. 60 percent of this supplemental—and, look, it's not a perfect bill. The House can make it better. 60 percent goes into our ability to build weapons for America. Everything from nuclear subs. By the way, almost 40 percent of our attack subs are in maintenance right now. We don't have the industrial capacity to protect ourselves. Xi Jinping is scared to death of American subs. This supplemental unlocks $6 billion for our sub capacity, to build subs, $5 billion to produce 155-millimeter howitzer rounds, and everything in between: javelins, stingers, Tomahawks. So this is about our industrial capacity to protect America first. And, then, of course, we need to get some of these weapons to our allies who are facing existential threats, whether it's Taiwan, Israel and Ukraine. And I think, when you talk about it from that perspective, it should unite Republicans, not divide them.
SULLIVAN: The record of what the Trump administration, working with Republicans, did in terms of foreign policy was dramatically stronger and focused on our allies than certainly the Obama administration, the Obama-Biden administration. Let me just give you a couple examples. Number one…
BRENNAN: You remember why Mattis resigned?
SULLIVAN: I do remember why Mattis resigned.
BRENNAN: That had directly to do with allies.
SULLIVAN: I'll give you an example in terms of Russia particularly. You remember President Obama, the Obama-Biden administration, was providing them MREs after the invasion of Crimea. What did the Trump administration with Republican support do? We got them javelins. We significantly bolstered American troop presence in the Baltics and in Poland, which the Obama administration refused to do. We dramatically increased American defense spending. The second term of the Obama administration, Obama-Biden, cut defense spending by 25 percent. They wrecked readiness. I'm the ranking member on the Readiness Subcommittee on Armed Services. Trump and the Republican Senate, we brought military readiness back, and we unleashed another element of American power, and that's American energy. These are all strong elements of the Trump administration record, working with Republicans [in Congress], that made us stronger. And, right now, if you look around the world, you see chaos. A lot of that, in my view, has been driven by the Biden administration's weakness.
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