The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Defense Budget (Executive Session)” mentioning Tommy Tuberville was published in the Senate section on pages S2193-S2194 on April 26.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Defense Budget
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, you know, there is a lot that we do not agree on here in the Senate, but I think everybody, including the Presiding Officer, can agree that we need to secure our country. We need to be safe. Our citizens need to feel safe. Our job as elected officials is to make sure that those who have stepped up to defend our country have the resources they need to do their job and do it safely.
The President's recent budget proposal for the Defense Department does not, and I repeat, does not give our men and women in uniform the tools to do their job properly. It is clear that President Biden thinks we don't need further investment in our military. It is clear he thinks it is OK to ask our men and women to do more with less, and that is impossible. This should alarm the Members of this body and all American people.
The world has changed a lot in 50 years. When President Biden first came to Washington in 1972, there were two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Back then, we spent 6.5 percent of our Federal budget on national defense--6.5. Today, we spend less than 3.5.
In 2021, we are facing different but very, very serious threats. Secretary Austin has said that China remains the top ``pacing threat'' for our military. It is much, much more than that. China isn't just trying to dominate Asia and its neighbors; they are trying to dominate much of the world through its growing military and economic influence. Simply keeping pace with China is not enough.
We have got to outpace all of our adversaries, but doing that requires smart, substantial, and strategic investments in our military--much more investment than the President and many people here in Congress publicly propose.
Let me walk through some of the ways that a supposedly flat defense budget hurts our national security.
President Biden says he wants his administration to trust the experts on things like COVID, but this defense budget shows he doesn't apply the same principle to the Pentagon. Unlike the President and some of my Democratic colleagues, I think we should take seriously the advice of our commanding generals, for they are the experts in this purview.
Here is what ADM Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, who is over our nuclear capabilities, said in last week's hearing to the Senate Armed Services Committee:
I have what I need today to deter. . . . but I need it modernized. . . . There's no remaining margin.
His warning is clear. We must modernize our greatest deterrent and keep peace among our adversaries with our nuclear arsenal. That means updating all three legs of the nuclear triad: submarines, bombers, and intercontinental ballistic missiles. It is necessary to do so, and it is also possible. As former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said,
``America can afford survival.''
The Russians have made modernizing their nuclear arsenal a priority. The Chinese have made growing their nuclear stockpile a matter of national pride. But the United States? Each day we rely on nuclear weapons that, in many cases, were designed by an analog mechanical computer. The free world, meaning the United States, works and sleeps under a nuclear umbrella that hasn't been updated to the digital age.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are fielding hypersonic missiles, which are missiles that go into space and then return to their target. Ours are still on the drawing board.
China's arsenal of ground-based and medium-range missiles continues to grow. They are pointed right at our forces in the Pacific and our allies in the region. We need investment to maintain our missile defense systems so we can protect our people and deter the Chinese from attacking our allies
We are also in a new space race, and it is a race we must win. Americans may not realize how much we rely on space for our daily lives. Our satellites allow us to get GPS for our phones or even watch football games on television, but the Chinese want to weaponize this new frontier of war, and we are falling way behind.
Right now, the Chinese have set up satellites over Taiwan as they continue to ramp up their threats on this democratic neighbor. It is unbelievable. I heard about the growing gap between us and the Chinese when I visited Army Materiel Command at Redstone Arsenal a few weeks ago in Huntsville. These folks shared with me how desperate we need to modernize our space-based systems that contribute to our missile defense.
The U.S. Army is the largest consumer of space products, and our military relies on Materiel Command to provide the resources to train our soldiers for research, development of new equipment, and defend our Nation. They should not have to beg the President of the United States for the money to invest in the capabilities that we need.
The United States must ensure secure and reliable access to space. Our budget needs to demonstrate commitment to defending our existing space assets and developing new technologies so we can win this next theater of conflict. We also need to invest in the safety of our service men and women, especially in aviation. Currently, the average age of an airplane in our military is older than the pilots flying them--older.
According to a recent report by the National Commission on Military Aviation Safety, the military had more than 6,000 noncombat aviation accidents since 2013, destroying 157 aircraft, at a cost of $9.41 billion. Even worse was the human cost. There are 198 souls that have been lost in these tragic accidents, affecting hundreds more spouses, children, family, and friends.
When asked why these causes occurred, servicemembers pointed to inadequate training programs, risky maintenance practices, and spotty funding, among other reasons. Alabama is home to Fort Rucker, where every Army helicopter pilot comes to get their training. When I visited the folks at Fort Rucker, they told me about the very real need for increased flight training hours for our pilots, which requires more investment and prioritization in the defense budget.
This last week, two pilots were injured in a helicopter crash at Fort Rucker during flight training. I am sure General Francis and the U.S. Army safety center will do a thorough investigation and provide feedback on the improvements needed to ensure that this does not happen again. The safety of our flight program must be a top priority. We must listen to our men and women in uniform and invest in the proper training and safety measures that will prevent these crashes.
Alabama stands ready to continue to build our military so we can maintain our status as a preeminent fighting force in the world. We have got hundreds of contractors and more than 200,000 employed in the defense sector across the State of Alabama. These topnotch men and women support our military installations from shipbuilders in Mobile to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, and many places in between. As Winston Churchill said, ``Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.''
We are willing and able, but those tools require sustained funding from the Federal Government. Telling our forces to fight a war with outdated tools is like giving a football team some leather helmets and decades-old poorly fitted pads and expecting them to compete against modern equipment. But that is exactly what President Biden's defense budget is asking our military to do. Frankly, it is a huge disappointment, coming from our Commander in Chief. We cannot let our men and women down.
Thankfully, it is Congress--not the President--which has the power of the purse. And, really, this should be our first order of business every year. It is that important.
In the coming weeks, I will be working with my colleagues on the National Defense Authorization Act and budget that will enable our military to do the job better today and prepare for all the challenges tomorrow. This debate is ultimately about whether or not we have the willpower to fight to defend our way of life and our great country.
Well, I am willing to keep fighting for the United States by investing in the men and women who keep us safe. I urge my colleagues and President Biden to do the same.
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