‘If We Fail To Act, War Is Inevitable’: Jon Tester Strongly Emphasizes Need For Defense Bill

last month

During a Senate Appropriations Committee markup on Thursday, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) spoke about the Fiscal Year 2025 Department of Defense Appropriations Act and global threats.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Thank you Madam Chair and I want to thank you and Senator Collins for your bipartisan

00:03efforts to move the appropriations process forward. You know better, you both know better

00:08than anybody the devastating effects of continuing resolutions and government shutdowns.

00:14We wrapped up last year's defense budget just a few months ago. So some might wonder why we're

00:20already looking forward to next year. Well I want to remind everybody that last year's budget got

00:24done six months, six months late. As a result of that our sailors, our soldiers, our airmen,

00:32our marines, our space guardians were fighting literally with one hand tied behind their back.

00:38How do we hold defense contractors accountable when we don't do our job? We have got to get our

00:44budgets done on time. The global security situation that we see today is as dangerous as it's ever

00:51been. I want to repeat that. The global security situation we see today is as dangerous as it's

00:58ever been. Proof points just last week Russian and Chinese bombers entered the Alaska air defense

01:04zone some 150 miles off the United States coast. It's the first time that Chinese bombers operated

01:10that area and they did it jointly with the Russians. This is alarming. In fact Russia and

01:15China are collaborating across the globe from space all the way down to Russia's unjust war in

01:19Ukraine. China also continues to conduct military drills around Taiwan and a furtherance of Xi's

01:27goal to forcefully invade that country. And China keeps escalating its aggressive behavior in the

01:32South China Sea more recently threatening the Philippine government over its alliances with

01:37the United States. With Russia's support North Korea continues to expand its nuclear program.

01:42Iran-backed Houthis continue to attack commercial ships in the Red Sea and our ships that protect

01:48Israel from Iranian missiles. Terrorist threats from ISIS and Al Qaeda are taking hold in Africa

01:53and elsewhere and very recently Americans saw what happens when a software patch goes bad.

01:59Five flights were grounded, computers didn't work and I can assure you that Chinese, Russians and

02:03Iranian cyber forces are capable of much worse against our critical military and civilian

02:08infrastructure. Look I could go on and on but the bottom line is this. There is no single budget line

02:14item that solves these problems. It's a combination of efforts that sets men and women who wear our

02:18nation's uniform up for success. This bill recommends 852.2 billion dollars for the Department of

02:24Defense in FY25. An increase of 27.2 billion over last year that includes 20.8 billion in emergency

02:31spending that Senator Collins and I believe are critical to ensuring the Defense Department can

02:37meet its mission. This bill provides funding for recruiting and training of our military officers

02:43so our troops can do their jobs. It gives them hard-earned pay raise and it takes care of their

02:47families. The bill invests in the modernization of our nuclear triad and outdated weapon systems

02:52and it helps the DoD innovate with modern technology. This bill puts forward or this bill

02:58puts our defense industrial base on a stronger footing by modernizing and expanding production

03:03facilities for critical weapons. It strengthens our deterrence against China, Russia, North Korea

03:09and Iran. Simply put, if we fail to act, war is inevitable. This bill provides stability and

03:16predictability to the Department of Defense, our workforce and those who would harm us.

03:21I want to thank Senator Collins. She has been great to work with. Her staff has even been

03:25better to work with in crafting this bipartisan bill. That's not a knock, that's a plus.

03:32And I would urge everybody's support. This is a difficult time in this world. Kennedy's right.

03:42We need to start looking at defense from a deterrence standpoint and if we don't have

03:46the deterrence, we got big problems. Finally, I want to recognize the defense subcommittee staff

03:51who has worked tirelessly to put this bill together. Gabriela Armanda, Mike Clemente,

03:57Laura Forrest, Abby Grace, Katie Hagan, Bridget Kolish, Rob Leonard, Ryan Pettit and Kate Coffer.

04:07They are the hardest working staff on the Hill in my opinion, but I want to say a few words about

04:12Kate that goes off script a bit. Kate is going to retire at the end of the year. Kate has literally

04:18been my right hand man on this committee, making sure that we're doing things and doing things

04:23right to meet the needs of the military and meet the national defense issues in this country.

04:28She's not only great at policy, but she can drink beer with the best of them.

04:33And I would just say to Kate, we wish you the best and we're going to miss you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

‘If We Fail To Act, War Is Inevitable’: Jon Tester Strongly Emphasizes Need For Defense Bill

Category

Transcript

Recommended