[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 93 (Thursday, May 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S3887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MILITARY APPRECIATION MONTH

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I have been down here a lot talking about 
why we need to increase the defense budget: We face more threats than 
ever before. China and Russia are investing more in modernizing their 
militaries than ever before. We need to strengthen our alliances to 
discourage our adversaries from acting, and the best way to back up our 
friends is with a strong military.
  These are all good reasons, but we have 2.2 million other reasons we 
need to increase our defense budget: all the brave men and women who 
serve our country in uniform.
  May is Military Appreciation Month, and I could talk all day about 
all the ways our servicemembers are the best in the world and how much 
I appreciate them. But we shouldn't just talk about it; we need to show 
these brave men and women just what they mean to us.
  When I travel, I always eat in the mess halls with our troops--not 
the officers, the enlisted men and women. When I do that, I get a real 
sense of what our troops need to do their jobs and defend this country. 
So I have a pretty good idea of what will show them our appreciation. 
We should show them by providing adequate, consistent and stable 
funding on time.
  When budgets are delayed and defense spending is cut, you know who 
feels it the most? Our troops. It hurts their morale. It hurts their 
readiness. It hurts their families. It affects everything.
  We should show them with more and better training that focuses on 
their safety. We should show them by giving them modem weapons and 
equipment that work and work well. We should show them by taking care 
of their families, making sure their spouses have good employment 
opportunities, their kids have access to high-quality childcare and 
education, and they all have the best healthcare. We should show them 
by giving them high-quality housing.
  Over the last 2 years, this was my priority, and it will be this year 
too. Senator Reed also understands this sacred duty we have.
  The last two years, we have given our troops a pay raise of 3 percent 
or more--some of the largest annual pay raises ever. We increased 
hazardous duty pay by 10 percent last year; that is what we give our 
troops in the most dangerous jobs. We have made changes to fix the 
broken housing system because no servicemember should ever be living in 
bad housing. We are continuing to keep an eye on this until all the 
necessary fixes are in place, including the Housing Bill of Rights we 
are waiting for. We have helped make sure military spouses have good 
jobs, even when they move. We have focused on building a modern 
healthcare system that works for our servicemembers and their families, 
and we have prioritized mental healthcare for those who serve. I am 
proud we have been able to do all this.
  But here is the thing: Taking care of our troops--that is at least a 
third of our defense budget right there. That is the right thing to do. 
Our servicemembers are the backbone of our national security. It's also 
the necessary thing to do for our All-Volunteer Force. No one is forced 
to enlist anymore. The military needs to compete for our country's best 
and brightest, and that takes money.
  The troops lay everything on the line to defend our Nation. They 
sacrifice time with their families and friends. As we remember each 
year on Memorial Day, many make the ultimate sacrifice. There aren't 
enough words to express our gratitude. That is why we have to show 
them.
  But the math of President Biden's budget doesn't add up when it comes 
to taking care of our troops. Not when we have to do all these other 
things--defend against more than one serious threat, support our allies 
and partners, and take on new domains. We can do things to make things 
more cost-effective for the taxpayer, but we can't go back on our 
promises to those who agreed to serve. They are all volunteers, after 
all.
  So it concerns me when people talk about us spending more than China, 
Russia, and other countries--it is just not true.
  One of the reasons our defense budget is large is because we take 
care of our people. China and Russia--they don't do that. They give 
them a gun and tell them to fight. No one else takes care of their 
people the way we do. That is why they don't have the caliber of people 
we do. Our military personnel are the best in the world.
  So yes, a strong military budget is about sending a message to our 
enemies. It is about sending a message to our allies and partners. But 
it is also about sending a message to our troops: that we are going to 
take care of you and your families while you serve. We are going to 
make sure you have what you need to defend this country--the equipment, 
the training, the personnel, the weapons, the support.
  President Biden's budget equals a cut to national defense. While we 
are going to prioritize taking care of our troops they are going to 
feel that cut somehow, someway, no matter what we do. We are asking 
them to do more with less, and we have been asking them for decades 
now.
  There are things President Biden and I agree we need to do when it 
comes to our national defense--keep the Indo-Pacific open and free, 
enhance our cyber defense, innovate and modernize, and beyond. But 
President Biden's got more on his list of things he wants to ask our 
military to do--stuff that really falls outside the core mission of the 
Department of Defense--and he is not even giving them more budget to do 
it with. This is not a message we should send our troops. It is not 
what they deserve.
  One month for military appreciation--it is really not enough. But we 
can show our troops our appreciation year-round by giving them the 
budget they need, a budget with real growth to match the strategy they 
are carrying out.

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