{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=9310C311-5294-4B41-B690-0AC7AAFB1BB2", "McConnell: Senate Must Not Short-Change American Strength", "2024-08-01", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding defense appropriations:\n\n\u201cToday, the Appropriations Committee is considering defense funding for the coming year.\n\n\u201cFrom the outset, colleagues who take seriously our obligation to provide for the common defense knew that they had their work cut out for them.\n\n\u201cThis spring, the President sent them a fourth straight defense budget request that would cut funding for the national defense after inflation. That request was grossly insufficient when it went to print. And it\u2019s even more so today.\n\n\u201cThen, the summer brought our closest allies and partners here to Washington, underscoring the importance of American leadership by example.\n\n\u201cAnd just a few days ago, the final report of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy put an even finer point on the stakes of the growing and interconnected threats to our national security.\n\n\u201cAs I discussed earlier this week, the bipartisan expert panel behind the report delivered a grave warning. Here\u2019s more of what they said:\n\n\u201cThe U.S. military \u2018lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe American public have been \u2019inadequately informed by government leaders of the threats to U.S. interests\u2014including to people\u2019s everyday lives\u2014and what will be required to restore American global power and leadership.\u2019\n\n\u201cThey went on further. \u2018Very little progress will be possible without Congress, where a relatively small number of elected officials have imposed continual political gamesmanship over thoughtful and responsible legislating and oversight.\u2019\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s past time to prioritize our national security. This is totally obvious to all of us. This needs to begin.\n\n\u201cJust take the pacing threat from China, for example. Plenty of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle like to talk about outcompeting the PRC.\n\n\u201cBut not as many seem to recognize that winning this competition, preserving American primacy, and protecting America\u2019s interests are first and foremost about investing in hard power.\n\n\u201cAs the Commission put it, China has \u2018largely negated the U.S. military advantage in the Western Pacific through two decades of focused military investment. Without significant change by the United States, the balance of power will continue to shift in China\u2019s favor.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut the vast majority of supposed \u2018counter-China\u2019 policies that folks in Washington like to talk about won\u2019t do much to arrest this shift. And neither will pretending that the pacing threat is the only threat we face.\n\n\u201cIt is na\u00efve to believe we can ignore or assume away threats in other regions. Anyone who believes our security and prosperity don\u2019t require urgent investments in hard power, in alliances and partnerships, and in our defense industrial base\u2026 clearly doesn\u2019t know what time it is.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m grateful to my friend, Vice Chair Collins, and to colleagues on the committee who recognize the urgency of the task in front of us, for fighting hard to negate as much of the President\u2019s real-dollar cut to national defense as they could.\n\n\u201cThe bill in committee right now exceeds the President\u2019s request by nearly $19 billion dollars. This is less than the additional $25 billion authorized by the Armed Services Committee.\n\n\u201cSenate Democrats refused to spend more on defense without additional funding for non-defense discretionary programs.\n\n\u201cHowever, thanks to our colleagues\u2019 efforts, this bill secures crucial steps forward on a number of urgent priorities.\n\n\u201cThe bill includes the largest-ever appropriation for shipbuilding, with hundreds of millions in new resources for growing and retaining the critical shipbuilding industrial base.\n\n\u201cIt tackles maintenance backlogs head-on, and invests in enough spare components to bring 500 more aircraft to full readiness than the President\u2019s request accounts for.\n\n\u201cIt goes $3 billion dollars beyond his request for overdue investments in expanding the defense industrial base, and provides for modernizing ammunition and vehicle production facilities from Iowa and Missouri to Ohio and Tennessee.\n\n\u201cAnd it delivers important down payments on critical munitions \u2013 from the long-range and precision strike capabilities needed in the Indo-Pacific to the naval interceptors required to defend U.S. personnel and global commerce from terrorist attacks in the Red Sea.\n\n\u201cBut let\u2019s be absolutely clear: When it comes to rebuilding our stockpiles and preparing our armed forces to deter and defeat threats, there is much more work to be done.\n\n\u201cThere is no serious reading of post-World War II history that doesn\u2019t trace the preservation of Western peace or the growth of American prosperity to an order underpinned by American strength.\n\n\u201cThe U.S. military is the reason our neighbors back home sleep in peace. It\u2019s the reason our communities reap the benefits of global trade. It\u2019s the weight behind our leaders\u2019 words.\n\n\u201cWe cannot afford to short-change it. And I cannot make the stakes of the task before us any clearer.\u201d\n\n###", 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=9310C311-5294-4B41-B690-0AC7AAFB1BB2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.275354065001011, "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"}