ICYMI: Chairman Graham Praises President Trump’s Defense Budget Request, Renews Vow to Fund ICE & CBP Through Reconciliation

ICYMI: Chairman Graham Praises President Trump's Defense Budget Request, Renews Vow to Fund ICE & CBP Through Reconciliation

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, held a hearing entitled, "The President's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Proposal." White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought testified.

During the hearing, Chairman Graham praised the increase in national defense funding to $1.5 trillion. Amid growing threats from America's adversaries and increasing Chinese aggression, Graham has called for substantial investments in shipbuilding to keep our Navy equipped to defend U.S. interests.

On shipbuilding:

• GRAHAM: "We've got a more aggressive China. Would you say China is fairly aggressive, at least in the economic space [and] military buildup?"
• VOUGHT: "Yes."
• GRAHAM: "China is on the move, folks. We all say, you know, we want to protect Taiwan. We got to do more than just talk about it. They're building a big deep-water navy, and we need to up our game. Do you know how many ships we have in our Navy?"
• VOUGHT: "Around 290."
• GRAHAM: "Okay. And they say we need how many to really cover the space?"
• VOUGHT: "We need to go up to at least around 400 ships."
• GRAHAM: "Okay. Well, how do you build more ships? You need money… That's why I support the budget." https://youtu.be/uH9YJMdYWnw?si=MsomJRy-CWcdrEdn&t=493

Chairman Graham also addressed the lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has persisted for over two months due to Democrats' refusal to approve money for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In response to Democrats' unwillingness to support these agencies, Graham is pushing forward with a plan to use budget reconciliation to fund them.

• GRAHAM: "I don't know about you, but it seems like there's a lot of bad things going on in the world. Now's not a time to shut the Border Patrol down. And now is not the time to defund ICE [or] put it out of business." https://youtu.be/uH9YJMdYWnw?si=TJpr_kcNz3FaC7hK&t=172
• GRAHAM: "We're going to move a reconciliation bill that would be limited to make sure we have money for the border patrol and ICE to keep doing their job through the [rest of the] President's term three-and-a-half years now. Why are we doing that? I just don't see any breakthrough with our Democratic colleagues about these two accounts. So, reconciliation's available to us, and I'm going to use it." https://youtu.be/uH9YJMdYWnw?si=K8xuYrG7Sd-XPY1H&t=191
• GRAHAM: "The next reconciliation bill… is designed to fix a problem. When the Appropriations Committee fails, this tool has to be used. And as Budget Chairman, I'm going to use this reconciliation tool… to the extent that I can." https://youtu.be/uH9YJMdYWnw?si=RY-j_kBL3cbeSSOo&t=375

Click here to watch Chairman Graham's Opening Statement & Questions

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