On the recordJuly 17, 2018
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I quite agree with the sentiment expressed by my colleague, Mr. Smith, that we do need to look at the overall budget picture. I think what has changed in that picture over time has been the amount of the budget consumed by mandatory spending, which is a very difficult problem. I concede that it is going to require men and women of good faith on both sides of the aisle to come together and have, if nothing else, an honest debate. The argument was also made that we spend more on defense than a large number of our competitors and our allies, combined, in many cases. I hear that a lot. That is true. It is also not that helpful of a statistic, as it ignores both the size of our economy, the relative size of our economy, as well as the unique nature of our global commitments. A more useful matrix of perhaps what we are spending as a percentage of GDP, we are still spending below the post-World War II average on defense as a percentage of GDP. For example, during the 1950s, 8 years of peace and prosperity, we were spending closer to 10 percent of our GDP on defense. So I just think we need to be careful when we throw around different terms like this. And I welcome that debate. It is one we definitely need to have. I just would close by saying our Marines put their lives on the line on a daily basis. When we go to war, we cannot guarantee that everyone will come home safely, and the Marines know that.…
