[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 51 (Friday, March 22, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2556-S2557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Government Funding

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the task before Congress this week, 
completing annual appropriations, is important work every year. In 
fact, it is among our most basic, fundamental responsibilities.
  But not in decades have the stakes of providing for the common 
defense been as high as they are right now. For the first time since 
the Cold War, America faces an era defined by great power competition. 
Of course, this is not news.
  Two straight Presidential administrations have correctly recognized 
this fact, at least on paper, in their national security strategies. 
These documents have recognized that challenges from revisionist 
authoritarians in Russia and China pose the greatest threat to the 
endurance of American leadership that has defined world politics and 
economics for decades.
  Today, we face major adversaries who wish nothing more than to bleed

[[Page S2557]]

American influence, sap our resolve, torch our credibility, and fill 
every void we leave behind with a new order built on fear and 
subjugation. And we face terrorists and rogue states committed to help 
them sow chaos. North Korea is sending thousands of train cars full of 
ammunition to fuel Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine; and Iran's 
Houthi proxies are signaling to Russian and Chinese ships that they 
will be permitted to traverse the Red Sea unharmed. But it is not 
enough to recognize these challenges or name-check them in policy 
papers. Both the administration and Congress have to act and invest and 
be willing to meet them.
  President Biden's actions undercut any of his administration's 
apparent recognition of the grave moment we are facing. For 4 straight 
years, the Commander in Chief has requested defense budgets that don't 
even keep pace with inflation. De facto cuts to U.S. military funding 
do not signal seriousness about outcompeting our biggest strategic 
adversaries--China's defense, for example, is growing by more than 7 
percent year-over-year--and neither did the President's hand-wringing 
and delay over equipping Ukraine with the capabilities needed to better 
defend itself against Russian aggression.
  Frankly, President Biden seems to have a deep-seated discomfort in 
cultivating and exercising hard power--a necessary, foundational part 
of the statecraft that protects America and preserves our interests.
  Of course, Congress has a say and a responsibility. Our work on 
fiscal year 2024 defense appropriations represents a critical down 
payment. But important requirements will remain unmet even after the 
needed investments this Defense bill will make.
  Republicans recognized the constraints of the budget caps, and we 
worked hard to ensure that the national security supplemental we passed 
in the Senate will make further critical investments in our own 
military and defense industrial capability.
  Earlier this week, the Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, 
Admiral Aquilino, made the case for passing the supplemental to our 
House colleagues, saying ``any win for Russia . . . is a win for 
China,'' and so what we do ``supporting the Ukraine problem set also 
provides a deterrent value'' in the Indo-Pacific.
  Together with full-year appropriations, the supplemental is a 
serious, urgent, and necessary investment in American hard power. And I 
will continue to urge the House to take it up and pass it without 
further delay.
  But as the Senate prepares to finish our work on annual government 
funding, I want to once again thank our colleagues on the 
Appropriations Committee for the diligent work required to get to this 
point. Senator Murray and Senator Collins made a commitment nearly a 
year ago to restore as much regular order to the process as possible 
and to work constructively across the aisle.
  I am especially grateful to my friend Susan Collins, whose leadership 
and skill have continued to improve this legislation on behalf of 
Senate Republicans at every step of the process.
  I am particularly proud of how the legislation before us will deliver 
on the priorities of my fellow Kentuckians. In significant ways, the 
work of rebuilding American hard power begins right here at home. It 
means good-paying manufacturing jobs for hard-working Americans across 
the country, including in Kentucky, in communities like Sterns and 
Somerset, where Kentuckians develop cutting-edge tools and technologies 
that give our servicemembers the upper hand on the battlefield or 
Brandenburg, where they produce new armor systems to enhance the next 
generation of combat equipment; or Louisville and Lexington, where they 
are spurring innovation in areas critical to our warfighting 
capabilities through partnerships with the University of Louisville and 
the University of Kentucky.
  Of course, funding the government this week also puts more weight 
behind missions even closer to home, like our fight against the 
substance abuse epidemic which has had a staggering--staggering--impact 
in my home State. We are devoting more resources to the Kentucky 
National Guard to reinforce State and local law enforcement as they 
combat the flow of illegal drugs literally pouring over our border. And 
we are directing billions toward States like Kentucky so we can promote 
long-term recovery, find new ways to treat addiction, and spare more 
lives from this deadly crisis. Through prevention, treatment, and 
enforcement, we are taking direct aim at a health crisis that has 
hollowed out our communities and hit middle America especially hard.
  Our work is far from finished, but I am proud of what my Senate 
colleagues have accomplished to close out the annual appropriations 
process. It is now time to finish the job.