Key Republican calls for ‘generational’ increase in defense spending to counter US adversaries

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Republican on a Senate committee that oversees the military is calling for a “generational investment” in U.S. defense, saying aggressive and significant increases in spending are needed to thwart coordinated threats from U.S. adversaries. USA like Russia, Iran and China.

Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the Associated Press he will seek an additional $55 billion in defense spending beyond the limits that were set in the agreement to lift the nation’s debt limit a year ago. year. Wicker explained his position in global terms, saying that “there has never been such a level of cooperation and coordination among an axis of aggressors” seeking to challenge US dominance.

The plan sets a significant milestone for Senate Republicans as they enter a new round of budget fights with Democrats in the heat of a heated election year. The White House proposed $850 billion in defense spending, adhering to the debt limit agreement by proposing a 1% increase over the previous year. This plan is unlikely to keep pace with inflation and would seek to reduce military costs by retiring older ships and aircraft.

Wicker acknowledged that it would be “a hill to climb” to convince Congress to break spending caps at a time of profound political upheaval. Washington still faces divisions over support for Ukraine, the fallout from two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a presidential election between two presumptive candidates — Biden and Republican Donald Trump — who espouse very different visions of America’s role abroad.

But Wicker said the nation has no choice. “We would be very foolish, from a national survival standpoint, if we adhered to that when it comes to national defense,” he said.

While GOP defense hawks have long advocated robust defense spending, Wicker’s plan goes a step further, calling for a broad shift in the U.S. defense posture that would amount to a reorganization of national priorities. Under his proposal, the military would end up consuming 5% of America’s gross domestic product – or total economic output.

Defense spending, when measured as a share of GDP, is currently about 3% and has been declining since the height of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has not exceeded 5% since the beginning of the 1990s.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Wicker said, “no one took chances against the United States because we were powerful enough to keep the peace. We’re just nowhere near that right now.”

“I think the fact that we are in a new Cold War is clear,” he said.

Wicker’s full plan is laid out in a paper he has been working on for a year. In it, he argues for the creation of a new generation of weaponry, pointing to Russia’s moves to expand its territory in Europe and China’s attempts to show increasing dominance in parts of the Pacific.

The closer ties between China and Russia were underscored earlier this month by a visit between leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. The two-day visit – Putin’s first trip abroad after taking office for a fifth term – reflected a growing partnership between the two nations, an alliance based on support for authoritarian regimes and dominance in their respective regions.

China provided diplomatic support to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine and has emerged as an important export market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin’s war coffers for the ongoing offensive.

Wicker said the high-level meeting between Putin and Xi “should be a wake-up call.”

He said in his proposal that the U.S. faces “the most dangerous threat environment since World War II” and calls for a national war stance appropriate for a long, drawn-out conflict with a major world power. For Wicker, this encompasses everything from addressing deferred maintenance at U.S. military installations that don’t have the right voltage in their outlets to preparing for nuclear weaponry in space.

Still, the spending increases are likely to be viewed with skepticism by lawmakers wary of growing the defense budget, which already dominates annual discretionary funding. Legislation to lift the nation’s debt limit passed Congress with strong bipartisan support and aimed to limit federal budget growth to 1% over the next six years, although spending caps would only be mandated through this year’s budget.

The House Armed Services Committee approved earlier this month, with nearly unanimous support, an $884 billion proposal for the annual defense authorization bill, staying within spending caps but shifting the funding for specific military programs. However, Senate Democrats are likely to resist further spending cuts in other government programs.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to draft the annual military authorization bill next month, but the chairman, Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, has not publicly disclosed the amount of spending he will propose. Wicker said he had been in contact with Reed, as well as top Democratic appropriators, about the plan, but his level of support was unclear.

At the same time, defense hawks like Wicker are navigating defense spending policy shifts in their own party, under Trump’s “America First” foreign policy brand. Earlier this year, a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan faced strong resistance from a large portion of Republicans in Congress, even though much of the funds were spent on purchasing equipment and munitions. from US-based defense manufacturers.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, however, has been outspoken about combating those in his party who seek to lead the US towards a more isolationist stance. And Wicker said there was “an opportunity” to win broad support for redoubling U.S. efforts in the Pacific because Republicans in Congress still support the fight against China.

As he works to convince Congress to rethink defense spending, Wicker said he was modeling his effort on the push that former Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, made in 2017 when trying to dramatically increase defense spending. This effort was largely unsuccessful.

But Wicker expressed confidence that this time could be different.

With China’s military power growing dramatically and Russia launching the largest ground invasion of Europe since World War II, the difference between 2017 and now is “the reality on the ground,” he said.