Roger Wicker: “this is a difficult topic for me to discuss because it is so serious and because the United States has so much catching…”

“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.…”