Jim Jordan: “the principal role of our Federal Government is to help keep America safe. As such, we in Congress must make our…”

“the principal role of our Federal Government is to help keep America safe. As such, we in Congress must make our national defense a top budget priority. This means we must pledge our steadfast support to American troops serving both at home and abroad, and we must renew our unwavering commitment to homeland security, in recognition of the dangerous world in which we live. H.R. 1585, the National Defense Authorization Act, makes a genuine effort to achieve each of these goals. That's why I will vote for it, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the defense budget of the United States represented 34.5 percent of our Gross Domestic Product. By 1968, that number had shrunk to 9.8 percent. Today, the number is less than half of that: about 4.3 percent. Certainly, the overall dollars spent on defense have increased as our economy has grown, but it is clear that our priorities have shifted. This bill, while not perfect, commits to funding our defense budget in a way that many of us would have thought impossible just a few months ago, given the nature of the debate at that time.”