Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. WICKER. Madam President, this is a difficult topic for me to discuss because it is so serious and because the United States has so much catching up to do. Two years ago, Congress created the bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. We gave it the job of examining the strengths and weaknesses of our national security position.

The Commission report was released just last month. The report comments on an array of military issues, but its findings can be distilled to a single alarming fact: China and Russia are increasingly able to match our military might. And if we do not act now, the consequences will be seismic. Not only could we fail to deter a war, we might actually lose the next war.

The report finds that we are not prepared for what is coming. And here is what is coming: For the first time, we must stand up to the ambitions of two nuclear-armed peer adversaries in multiple regions of the world at the same time. That stunning conclusion means this report should be required reading for each of my colleagues.

And so I directed my staff to deliver a copy of this bipartisan report personally to every Senator, and I hope we take its message to heart.

The American military, in particular, our nuclear deterrent, has been one of the principal guarantors of global security--not just American security but global security--since the late 1940s. Our power crested at the end of the 20th century when the Berlin Wall crumbled, and we emerged as the world's sole superpower. But regrettably, instead of maintaining that competitive edge, we have allowed it to slip away in both conventional and strategic deterrents.

China and Russia watched as we shuttered our shipyards and ammunition plants, as we let our ships rust, and as we neglected to replace our aging Cold War nuclear arsenal. Then, as successive Presidential administrations let defense assets deteriorate, China and Russia poured more funds into their weapons stores. They built the kind of weapons needed to take us on in a conventional fight and keep us at bay in a strategic one.

This is not one Senator saying this; this is the bipartisan Commission that we tasked with investigating this thoroughly. The autocrats who ruled China and Russia began paying attention to more than our guns and ships. When our satellites and next-generation communications capabilities gave us an unbeatable edge in the Gulf war, these enemies, adversaries of ours, took notice.

We could see, communicate, and shoot from farther away than anyone else. When we deployed these tools, we inaugurated new ways to protect ourselves, cutting-edge technology, not mere masses of metal, would win the final argument of nations. But the leaders of Russia and China soon came to recognize this also. They began to meet our advances and ensure we could never do to them what we had done to Saddam Hussein's military in 1991.

Among the bipartisan Commission's direst findings is the fact that China and Russia have largely succeeded. China has built strike complexes of their own that make the prospect of war increasingly perilous. Their fleet of anti-satellite weapons and cyber warfare capabilities could render our military blind, deaf, and mute in a potential conflict over Taiwan.

U.S. victory, and, therefore, deterrence, was once a fait accompli, but today we risk war that would shake the foundations of everyday American life and the foundations of global peace.

The consequences of our negligence, together with the Chinese and Russian investment, are most acute when it comes to our nuclear position, which has been the foundation of our deterrence capability. Russian submarines are becoming much more advanced, and China is rapidly bringing missile silos online. Meanwhile, our Air Force personnel are still using floppy disks to operate missiles that are older than their parents, and they are flying bombers that are older than their grandparents.

Our nuclear submarines--the crown jewels of U.S. military power--are having to remain at sea longer as our fleet shrinks. Workforce problems and maintenance delays hold the fleet back from its potential. The AUKUS agreement is a tremendous diplomatic achievement that can be a game changer, but it must be implemented correctly. And right now, we are short of the attack submarines needed.

China and Russia now clearly realize that, by joining forces, they can help each other reach their goals. China wants to occupy Taiwan, and their leader has said they need to be ready to do that as soon as 2027. Russia wants to puncture NATO's iron wall, and they want to help each other to do both. Their sinister intent and increasing capabilities make this the most dangerous national security moment we have faced in 75 years.

Paul Nitze, the Pentagon official whose strategic wisdom helped us win the Cold War, once said:

Our fundamental purpose is more likely to be defeated from lack of the will to maintain it, than from any mistakes we may make.

In other words, the future is ours to lose, but the future is still ours. This report recommends several policies that can help us end the damaging defense cuts of the past three decades and begin making investments we need.

The Commission's first recommendation is that we rebuild and expand the defense industrial base, including the National Nuclear Security Administration's nuclear weapons production infrastructure. In particular, Congress should partner with the administration and the Navy to establish a third public shipyard to conduct submarine maintenance. Again, this is the recommendation of a completely bipartisan Commission of experts.

The second proposal builds on the first. We need educational institutions and a talent pipeline to bring skilled tradesmen to this industrial base. These high-paying, stable, and long-term jobs do not require master's or bachelor's degrees. They can advance both national security and expand economic opportunity.

Finally, the report recommends a series of products we should prioritize. We need more conventional forces, and we should increase procurement of strategic nuclear capabilities like the B-21 and the Columbia-class submarine. We need improved missile defenses and rapidly deployable theater nuclear forces like the sea-launched cruise missile. Delivering these products would put our adversaries on notice and reassure our allies at the same time.

Of course, these actions come with a pricetag, but we have always found our defense investments to be both expensive and priceless. It will cost money to deter China and Russia and Iran from threatening us, but it will cost much, much more--in money and in lives--if we do not. In the words of former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, ``America can afford survival.''

The good news is that we have done this before. In the late 1970s, the Pentagon sowed the seeds of our defense technological revival, even as the Carter administration shrank from the world stage. But then in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. That attack was a wake-up call. It taught Washington there is no substitute for superior military might.

Again, Paul Nitze helped form an organization that educated Congress, the Carter administration, and the American people about the Soviet Union's threat. The result was the Reagan defense buildup that won the Cold War.

We can do that again, but we must abandon the status quo and start thinking big again. The shocking warnings in this report should spur us to abandon our inertia and take bold actions that will lead us into the next American century.

I thank the members of this Commission for their years of hard work, and I urge my colleagues in both the House and Senate to take note.

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