Jim Inhofe: “I am down here today to talk about something that I have talked about many times before, and that is the need to have a…”

“I am down here today to talk about something that I have talked about many times before, and that is the need to have a strong defense budget so we can deter our adversaries. You know, it is not like it used to be in the old days. It is for real. These guys--China, for example, is in a position they have never been in before. I think it is important that we talk about this budget that is coming up again. It is more important now than ever. Over the past few weeks, the Senate Armed Services Committee has been having hearings in which we have heard from top military leaders, defense experts, and Pentagon officials. What we have heard has been grim. LTG H.R. McMaster told us that since the 1990s, China has undertaken the ``largest peacetime military buildup in history.'' Admiral Davidson, who leads the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said, ``I think our conventional deterrent is actually eroding in the region.'' Last week, Admiral Faller, who leads the U.S. Southern Command, said, ``Now more than ever, I feel a sense of urgency about global threats we face in our neighborhood.'' Now, I agree. I thought the Cold War was bad, but the threats we are facing now, especially from China, are more complex and more dangerous than they ever have been before. In fact, I look back sometimes wistfully at the days of the Cold War when things were predictable. We had two superpowers. We knew what they had; they knew what we had. Mutual assured destruction meant something.…”