Defense

Defense

Under the Constitution, the major duty of the federal government is to provide for common defense. As long as I am in Congress, I will work to ensure that our men and women in uniform continue to have the best equipment and best-trained Armed Forces in the world. To protect our national security, we must always have a strong national defense to promote peace and discourage those who would attack us.

Our service members who are fighting on the front lines to protect this nation deserve our utmost respect and thanks. I wholeheartedly support our troops, and I appreciate the work they’re doing around the world, especially in Afghanistan.

I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1530, introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf (VA), which would establish an Afghanistan-Pakistan Study Group similar to the one formed to evaluate our strategy in Iraq. I believe we could benefit from an independent panel of experts examining our current strategy and making recommendations that ensure our mission goals are clear and that our troops can return home as soon as possible.

Defense Sequestration Cuts

Defense spending is facing deep, potentially dangerous cuts in the years ahead due to a process known as sequestration.  Sequestration is an automatic, across-the-board cut to most discretionary federal programs that is designed to help close our nation’s budget deficit, which itself is a threat to our national security.  When it comes to defense spending, however, these cuts would undoubtedly lead to disastrous consequences for our soldiers, veterans, national security and the economy. 

In order to ensure that detrimental cuts do not happen on the backs of hardworking taxpayers or by jeopardizing our national defense, Congress needs to re-examine every program scheduled to receive spending cuts.  I will work hard to protect needed funds for our national defense.

I voted in favor of H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, which would replace the first year of defense sequestration cuts with commonsense federal spending reductions. These cuts target waste, fraud, and abuse in our country’s mandatory spending programs – programs that make up nearly two-thirds of our federal budget.  Allowing such cuts to take place, especially when we still have thousands of men and women in combat overseas, is completely unacceptable.

I will continue to work to ensure sequestration does not gut our nation’s defenses, and that our troops receive the resources they need to perform their mission as safely as possible.

Our men and women in uniform—and their families—make tremendous sacrifices so that we can live safe and free. They deserve our full support, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that our country meets its obligation to them.