Hearings to examine military to civilian transition, focusing on success after service. (Official U.S. Senate photo by Rosa Pineda)
- Senator Roger Wicker is calling for $55 billion in additional defense spending, a generational investment he says is needed to combat an emerging “axis of aggressors.”
Mississippi’s senior U.S. Senator is calling on the Department of Defense, the executive branch, and Congress to work together to accelerate the development of new capabilities and build up existing ones in the United States military.
Senator Roger Wicker (R), the highest-ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, released a report on Wednesday titled “21st Century Peace Through Strength: A Generational Investment in the U.S. Military” where he says America’s national defense strategy and military budget are inadequate.
“An emerging axis of aggressors is working to undermine U.S. interests across the globe. Congress and military leaders agree: The United States has not faced such a dangerous threat
environment since the years before World War II,” Senator Wicker writes.
Senator Wicker identifies these “axis of aggressors” as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as well as violent extremist organizations such as offshoots of ISIS and al Qaeda.
The best way to avoid further conflict, Wicker says, is to be ready.
“Today’s security challenges demand a generational investment to revitalize our armed forces – investments that would restore America’s military strength for decades to come,” the Senator says.
Senator Wicker writes that America’s military has a lack of modern equipment, a paucity of training and maintenance funding, and a massive infrastructure backlog.
“America’s existing National Defense Strategy and budget were not built to deal with the current threat landscape,” the Senator says. “The U.S. military needs this generational investment immediately to combat these rapidly growing and metastasizing threats.”
Wicker is pushing for an additional $55 billion to bring the defense budget to $950 billion in Fiscal Year 2025 and sustaining the budgetary growth over the next five to seven years until it reaches 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product. He says this will enable the U.S. to fix failing defense infrastructure, field a new generation of equipment, and maintain American technological leadership.
Wicker believes the additional funding would prevent wider conflicts around the globe while creating “a lasting and healthy defense industrial base.”
The funding Senator Wicker is proposing would go to rebuilding munitions arsenals, integrated air and missile defense, contested logistics, prepositioning of key combat support, increased Navy shipbuilding, and more.
You can read the full report from Senator Wicker below:
Frank Corder
