{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=22B30F06-C292-4CBE-9399-40259D0B3A72", "ICYMI: McConnell Addresses U.S. Global Leadership Coalition", "2024-08-15", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "LOUISVILLE, KY \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) addressed the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) today during USGLC\u2019s South Summit in Louisville, Kentucky. Audio download here and remarks follow as prepared for delivery:\n\n\u201cNext month will mark 85 years since Germany\u2019s invasion of Poland triggered the largest and bloodiest conflict in human history. But years before American G.I.s would set foot on European soil, we faced a moment of national reckoning here at home over America\u2019s role in that conflict \u2013 and, as it turns out, over our leadership in the world.\n\n\u201cLarge shares of the American people had bought into a narrow view of our interests beyond our shores. The dark days of the Depression and the First World War weighed heavy on them. They had elected representatives to Congress who voted consistently against investment in our own defense.\n\n\u201cThe isolationist fervor gripping the nation was so strong, in fact, that President Roosevelt had been compelled to sign a series of \u2018Neutrality Acts\u2019 limiting our ability to come to the aid of friends and allies facing the specter of Nazi and Japanese aggression. But no ocean could isolate America from the winds of war. And with the benefit of hindsight, we all know how abruptly this holiday from history came to an end.\n\n\u201cBy the late spring of 1940, as the Nazis invaded France, polls reported that after years of hesitance and skepticism the vast majority of Americans were suddenly willing to spend whatever was necessary on the national defense!\n\n\u201cBy the time Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the following year, even one of the most prominent opponents of American engagement, Senator Arthur Vandenberg, declared, \u2018that day ended isolationism for any realist. But years of resistance to investments in our military had already taken their toll.\u2019\n\n\u201cEven as Congress raced to pass massive appropriations \u2013 above and beyond what FDR requested \u2013 America\u2019s industrial base couldn\u2019t keep up. Years of neglect had left us short of raw materials, machinery, and manpower. As the Navy\u2019s top Admiral at the time put it, \u2018Dollars cannot buy yesterday.\u2019\n\n\u201cAmerica faced a world on fire, but we were not yet prepared to put it out. War revealed the truly dire consequences of investing in defense too late. These consequences can be measured in dollars, such as the 37% of our gross domestic product we spent on the military during World War II. But we must not forget the costs are measured in lives as well.\n\n\u201cOver 400,000 servicemembers gave their lives to defend our country and way of life during that war, and countless civilians across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The American homeland was largely spared, but technology has shrunk the globe, and future conflict could very well bring such terrible costs to our own shores.\n\n\u201cWorld War II\u2019s end ushered in a new era for American foreign policy. Though great debates over America\u2019s role in the world would chug on, the century was marked for the most part by a strong, bipartisan commitment to global leadership \u2013 leadership that has ensured our peace, prosperity, and security ever since.\n\n\u201cAmerica became a guarantor of stability provided by an American-established international order. Our global role continues to preserve our peace and prosperity to this day, sometimes in ways not so obvious.\n\n\u201cHere in Kentucky, supply chains are living, breathing proof of American leadership in the world. Rural bourbon producers reach buyers from Madrid to Melbourne. Steel mills supply manufacturers of surgical tools, skyscrapers, and spacecrafts. And Ford and Toyota rely on imported parts at production plants in Louisville and Georgetown. We often forget that Toyota itself is a Japanese company that has invested billions of dollars into our economy, providing nearly 10,000 jobs in central Kentucky.\n\n\u201cAll of this runs on the premise of a set of rules \u2013 rules underpinned by American leadership that guarantee secure and sustained access to global markets and freedom of navigation of strategic sea lanes and trade routes.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have to look back far to understand the importance of the free flow of goods and people. COVID-19 ground production to a halt all across the South. Among many things, it dislodged our supply chains, causing years-long backlogs for the parts, supplies, and raw materials that feed our economy and create jobs.\n\n\u201cAs costly and painful as the pandemic was, global war would strain our world, our economy, and the American household in much worse ways. But here\u2019s the big difference, these risks are within our means to control.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because when America upholds the rules, we set the table for our own prosperity. President Reagan saw this plainly. He understood what it took to defend our interests. What it took was \u2018peace through strength\u2019 \u2013 the idea that hard power is what actually preserves peace and prevents war. When Reagan sat down across from Gorbachev, American strength helped his hand diplomatically and strategically. Credible hard power gave soft power its weight.\n\n\u201cNow, for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, we ourselves face an era of great power competition. A new axis of evil has formed. We\u2019re seeing Iran and North Korea arming Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. China helping Iran skirt international sanctions to fund its assault on Israel. We\u2019re\n\nseeing a \u2018friendship without limits\u2019 between Moscow and Beijing. And China arming itself at an alarming rate.\n\n\u201cOur enemies are surely working to undercut our influence around the world, but here at home we\u2019re undercutting American strength just the same.\n\n\u201cFor four straight years, President Biden has put forward a budget that amounts to a net cut in defense after inflation. In the 1940s, the belated defense spending I discussed earlier spiked to 37% of GDP. During the Reagan buildup that helped end the Cold War it hit only 6% of GDP. Today, defense spending sits at 2.7% of GDP. And even maintaining this level is like pulling teeth with too many of my colleagues in Washington. But the bottom line is clear: we cannot expect China, Russia, and Iran to play by the rules if we\u2019re not willing to lead with strength.\n\n\u201cIn fact, our adversaries are determined to undermine American leadership, to re-write these rules. And there is no question that if they succeed it will be to America\u2019s disadvantage.\n\n\u201cSome in Congress are waking up to the importance of a strong defense. Earlier this year, a bipartisan majority passed supplemental funding to rebuild the arsenal of democracy and assist our friends on the frontlines in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. But, as I have said before, strength is not a one-time injection. It\u2019s the product of sustained, serious investment. And this moment requires a renaissance of investment in American hard power.\n\n\u201cIf we would like for military force to remain an option of last resort, as I do, then we must invest seriously in our strength today. Now, I know it\u2019s a difficult time to ask for greater spending as Americans carry the burden of inflation. But putting off this investment any longer will expose Americans to an even greater burden, the burden of funding an unwelcome war.\n\n\u201cThe fact remains that it\u2019s a lot cheaper to prevent a war than to be in one. It can be easy to turn inwards, to ignore the responsibilities of leadership that have underpinned our peace, prosperity, and security.\n\n\u201cTo those who criticize greater investment in our defense, I would pose the following question: Which of these interests are you willing to abandon? We can\u2019t afford to wait for another attack before we get serious about defending our interests. We must do what we can today, to keep the peace tomorrow.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:32Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=22B30F06-C292-4CBE-9399-40259D0B3A72"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0218670833855867, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}