Issue Position: National Defense and Foreign Policy

Issue Position

Senator Blunt believes in President Ronald Reagan's vision of "peace through strength." He knows that the United States is an exceptional country and that the federal government's number one responsibility is to protect the nation from enemies, foreign and domestic. As one of only three U.S. Senators serving on both the defense authorizing and appropriations committees, Senator Blunt strongly supports our men and women in uniform, and he understands that the world is a dangerous place.

Those who serve or have served, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, deserve America's deepest respect. Senator Blunt understands that the United States has important obligations in other parts of the world, especially those places where terrorist organizations have historically been provided with aid and comfort while planning attacks against our homeland. But he believes we cannot allow our necessary focus on these non-traditional threats to distract us from maintaining our nuclear deterrent and readiness in the face of more traditional foes.

For years, Senator Blunt has called for more robust sanctions policies to stop Iran from gaining access to nuclear weapons capabilities. And while al Qaeda is weakened due to the work of American intelligence personnel and troops, we need to understand that the challenge of fundamentalist Islamic terrorism remains real.

Senator Blunt supports Missouri's vital role in the defense of our country and will work to promote even more defense industry investment in our state. Missouri is home to almost 18,000 active duty servicemen and women, nearly 10,000 civilian employees, 25,000 reservists and members of the National Guard, and almost 29,000 additional military-related personnel. The state also has more than 125,000 civilian contract employees.

In 2011, Senator Blunt successfully fought to pass a provision that will ensure our National Guard and Reservists are treated fairly when they return from active duty on disaster assistance missions. Until his amendment passed, our citizen-soldiers had different re-employment privileges depending on whether they returned from overseas missions on domestic missions.

Senator Blunt is in favor of supporting our allies in parts of the world that share our nation's vision for freedom and human rights. He understands the important role that the United States plays in protecting and promoting global commerce, which creates jobs for American workers and strengthens our influence abroad. He opposes policies that amount to appeasement of dangerous regimes.

In early 2012, President Obama announced major reductions to the military budget. While Senator Blunt believes that we need take real action to rein in spending and reduce our federal debt, he has deep concerns with policies that could weaken our national defense posture.

The United States has a bright future as the freest and most dynamic nation in the world. Senator Blunt believes we must live up to that obligation, protect freedom for ourselves and our allies, and remain an example to all nations that seek the liberties and opportunities that we in America enjoy every day.

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