HUNTSVILLE — U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) called for a drastic increase in the defense budget Wednesday to face growing threats from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
Aderholt, who represents the fourth district which is just south of Madison County and runs from the Georgia line to the Mississippi line, is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Defense Subcommittee.
He spoke Wednesday to a select group of defense contractors at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. His presentation was “How Our Defense Budget Gap Threatens America’s Security” and included his five-point plan.
The plan includes 1) ensuring the U.S. build and advance technology to lead the world; 2) making sure the U.S. dominates all warfighting domains; 3) strengthening alliances; 4) protecting the defense industrial base; and 5) ensuring men and women in uniform are focused on their core mission.
This plan, Aderholt said, will get the military and appropriations to the level they need to be to make the United States the No. 1 power.
He said the U.S. is spending almost $800 billion a year on defense, which is just over 3% of gross domestic product. But the congressman said that is not sufficient to meet the challenges coming from all directions.
“Since the end of the Cold War, we have averaged around 4.4% of our GDP on defense spending,” Aderholt said. “However, during the Cold War, it was really closer to 8% and I believe we are facing greater challenges than we did during the time of the Cold War.”
This difference between 3% of GDP and the 4.4% being spent now is what Aderholt called a “security gap.”
That security gap, he said, is keeping the nation from maintaining a leadership role; from staying at least a generation ahead of our enemies and technology; and from paying men and women in uniform wages that compete better with the private sector.
Aderholt said the gap is also preventing the nation from modernizing its nuclear forces and building the naval resources needed to stay ahead of China. Furthermore, he said, it keeps the nation from accelerating missile defense technologies and offensive and defensive capacities of cyber warfare.
“We need to move quickly to ramp up our spending over the next three to five years or I believe the coming decade will not be so friendly to the United States,” Aderholt satd.
The first point of Aderholt’s plan can be wrapped up in the phrase, “Peace through strength,” he said.
“It is something the United States has gotten away from in the past century,” Aderholt said. “Technology is one of America’s strengths. We have the best minds, we have the best companies, we have the best managers who can harness technology in America a generation ahead of our adversaries, however, we need to fund them better and find a way to speed up the cumbersome procurement process.”
He said modernizing weapons and modernizing the delivery systems is vital as part of the nuclear triad.
Aderholt also urged the U.S. to dramatically increasie the number of ships and fleets countering threats; increase production of conventional weapons; and increase military pay, especially for enlisted personnel. He said the U.S. should ensure the readiness level is high with better forward deployment so the military can spring into action if needed.
Aderholt’s called for working toward domination of warfighting domains such as space, cyber, and artificial intelligence. He said the cyber and AI capabilities must remain robust with myriad options for dealing with any threat anywhere, anytime.
“No matter where Space Command winds up, they must be fully funded and not just given lip service in the budget,” Aderholt said. “Space Force and Space Command are some of the greatest ways for us to achieve new levels of superiority over the Chinese and the Russians.”
The congressman’s third point is to work tirelessly to build new alliances around the world, particularly in Africa.
“Sometimes the money we invest on other nations is criticized,” he said. “But if we don’t make that investment, the Chinese will. If we allow a power vacuum, the Chinese will be more than willing to step in.”
The fourth part of the plan is making sure the U.S. is not reliant on a single unfriendly nation for anything vital to national security from oil and gas, to intellectual property, and the basic materials needed to build military hardware.
“We use at least 35 critical minerals to build advanced weaponry and, for 14 of those, we are 100% reliant on other countries,” he said. “We are more than 50% reliant on 15 others and we get all of them from China and Russia.”
The fifth part of Aderholt’s plan involves the “woke” culture that is seeping into the military today.
“We can’t face challenges if we force our military and our brave service members to be focused on a culture of wokeness instead of being a culture of warriors,” he said. “Our military must be focused on one overarching thing and that is protecting the United States and our interests at home and abroad.”
Ultimately, Aderholt’s message was one that inspires the military and the United States to meet the challenges of the rest of the century.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our email newsletter to have all our smart stories delivered to your inbox.
