Issue Position: Defense

Issue Position

With our national debt greater than $15.5 trillion, no area should be exempt from cuts, including defense. As Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "Our national debt is our biggest national security threat."

While we must get our debt under control, we must do so intelligently and not at the expense of our fundamental national security. We need to find ways to have a lean, but effective military.

Former Secretaries of Defense, Robert Gates and Secretary Leon Panetta, have already started to reshape the military with this focus and I commend them for their work. Under Former Secretary Gates, $178 billion in efficiencies were found. Of that $178 billion, $78 billion was dedicated for deficit reduction and $100 billion was redirected to higher priority projects. Secretary Panetta has also found billions of dollars in efficiencies by having the Army streamline support systems, the Navy consolidate inventory, and the Air Force reduce service support contractors.

One other way the Navy is becoming leaner is by adding the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) to their fleet. The LCS is a smaller, faster, highly maneuverable ship that is capable of anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, and mine countermeasures. I am extremely proud that the LCS Freedom class is built at Marinette Marine, and I will continue to work diligently to promote the LCS and the high quality work from Wisconsin's workers. Ships like the LCS, allow the Navy to operate at high levels of efficiency while saving taxpayer dollars.

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