[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4754-S4755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             DEFENSE BUDGET

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, as my colleague from Oklahoma Senator 
Lankford just gave a wonderful speech on the Fourth of July, we are all 
focused on heading home for the Fourth of July, celebrating freedom, 
celebrating our independence, celebrating liberty.
  And we all know that that freedom is not free. There is a saying at 
the Korean War Memorial, etched in stone, that says those very words: 
``Freedom is not free.''
  The sacrifices of our military are something that all of us are going 
to be thinking about over the course of the Fourth of July week, 
weekend, as we

[[Page S4755]]

celebrate and commemorate American liberty, American independence, and 
American freedom.
  Our military has helped us provide that, both here at home but also, 
importantly, abroad.
  I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation--Senate 
delegation with two of my Senate colleagues, Senator Coons and Senator 
Duckworth, a couple weeks ago to Korea--South Korea and Taiwan.
  And it doesn't matter where you are from in America, whether you are 
a Democrat or a Republican, when you go overseas and you go to 
countries like that, countries and places that literally exist because 
of the sacrifice of the American military, it makes you humble, and it 
makes you proud.
  South Korea and Taiwan--vibrant economics, vibrant democracies. And 
if you know the history, those two places wouldn't be that way if it 
weren't for the sacrifice, literally, of tens of thousands of 
Americans.
  It is no exaggeration to say--whether it is in those places or in 
places at home or in Europe or in Asia--that the United States has been 
one of the most powerful forces for liberating humankind from 
oppression and tyranny than any other force in the world.
  Think about it. Hundreds of millions of people across the world and 
in our own country, over the decades, have been liberated by men and 
women wearing the uniform of the United States.
  As we contemplate the Fourth of July week, weekend, that is something 
every American can take pride in and should take pride in.
  But as we all know, freedom is not free. Many of us think that 
defending our Nation should be our priority No. 1 as part of our job in 
the U.S. Senate. Budgets are a reflection of an administration's values 
and priorities.
  And if you look at this budget--this is the $6 trillion blowout 
budget of the Biden administration, where up here you have every single 
Federal Agency with double-digit--20-percent increases, 40-percent 
increases, 15-percent increases across the board.
  The two Agencies charged with the national security of our Nation, 
the Department of Defense and Homeland Security, in terms of priorities 
for this administration, are dead last.
  Actually, if you adjust the budgets for inflation, these are cuts--
almost 3 percent cut in our military budgets and probably close to 4 to 
5 percent for Homeland Security.
  Budgets reflect values of administrations and priorities, and this 
administration, right now, is prioritizing our military and our 
national defense dead last.
  We had the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs 
of Staff in front of the Armed Services Committee last week, and I 
showed them this chart, and I asked them: How can you tell the troops 
that you lead that this administration prioritizes our military and 
national defense over other missions of the Federal Government?
  They couldn't give a really good answer because there is no good 
answer. If you look at this chart, if you look at the Biden 
administration's budget, they are prioritized at the bottom.
  This is a battle of ideas, and when we come back from the Fourth of 
July recess, we are going to have this battle. I know I have 
colleagues, Democrats and Republicans--I have spoken to many on both 
sides of the aisle--who fundamentally disagree with this--fundamentally 
disagree with this.
  You might remember last summer we had a debate when Senator Sanders 
brought forth his defund the Pentagon amendment. That is what he called 
it. At the height of defunding the police, we had Senators saying we 
are going to now defund the Pentagon--15 percent across-the-board cuts 
to the military. That is what Senator Sanders wanted.
  By the way, Senator Schumer was a cosponsor of that.
  And now they are in charge here, the majority leader, the chairman of 
the Budget Committee, and in many ways they are getting what they 
wanted--almost 3 percent cut to our military.
  I guarantee it is not what the American people want; it is not what 
my constituents want; and I don't think it is what the vast majority of 
U.S. Senators want.

  So we are going to battle this. We are going to battle this, and I am 
going to ask my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work 
with me to reject this. We need to reject this. We shouldn't prioritize 
our military dead last, which is what the Biden administration and, 
unfortunately, some of my colleagues here are doing.
  I would like to end by just noting that tomorrow is actually another 
anniversary. We were talking about the Fourth of July, but June 25 is 
the 71st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean war, which was June 
25, 1950.
  Unfortunately, not enough Americans, in my view, have a lot of 
knowledge of the Korean war. It is even called the forgotten war. I 
don't think it should be called the forgotten war. It should be called 
the noble war because Americans went to a place they didn't even know 
to defend freedom, which they did after a hard, difficult, violent 
struggle.
  But in the summer of 1950, we lost thousands and thousands of young 
Americans, young American soldiers, young American servicemen. Why?
  Because they were not prepared to fight. We went from 1945, having 
probably the most formidable military in the history of the world, to 5 
years later--because of defense cuts, because of lack of leadership by 
civilian and military leaders in the United States--a military that 
could not fight, a military where we lost thousands of young American 
soldiers because they weren't ready because budgets had been gutted.
  We can never allow that to happen again, and as we head into the 
Fourth of July weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July and our hard-
fought freedoms and liberty, we need to look at this budget, come back 
here and say to the President and others: We are not--we are not going 
to prioritize the national security of our Nation last.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.

                          ____________________