Jim Inhofe: “first of all, I would make a comment in reaction to the comments of our good friend from Texas. What he says is true…”

“first of all, I would make a comment in reaction to the comments of our good friend from Texas. What he says is true, and the American people are not aware--and I don't say this critically of the previous administration--but during the Obama administration, his top priority was not really defense. He had his own agenda, and, consequently, we suffered at that time. In the last 5 years, which would have been from 2010 to 2015, he reduced the funding of our military by 25 percent. What people don't realize is, during that same timeframe, Russia increased theirs by 34 percent, and China increased the funding of their military by 83 percent. That put us in a situation in which we have to do what we are doing, and that is why this and the last bills have been very important. We are still working on the National Defense Authorization Act. I consider it to be the most important bill of the year. I know my colleagues agree with me that this is very significant, and this is something that we know is eventually going to pass. This will be the 60th consecutive year. Our military is the best in the world. This week, with this bill, we are going to make sure it stays that way. The goal of having a strong military is deterrence--to make sure that we don't have to use it--and to send a signal to our enemies that they can't win against us. This is the message we need to send today, tomorrow, and forever. That is what the national defense strategy tells us.…”