McConnell Statement on FY27 Budget Request Defense Topline

LOUISVILLE, KY - U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, released the following statement on the outlined President's budget request:

"Undoing the damage of chronic underinvestment in the national defense is a multi-year proposition and I welcome the president's request for significant growth in annual appropriations for the U.S. armed forces.

"As I have cautioned for years, meeting the most pressing challenges to U.S. national security will require reliable, sustained, and significant annual investment in our military strength. Budget reconciliation, for its part, can only supplement - not replace - the consistent demand signals necessary to secure the private sector investments necessary to adequately expand and modernize our defense industrial base. Regular order appropriations are the right way to meet the scale and scope of the requirements of our military as it confronts growing threats from increasingly aligned adversaries. Senate defense appropriators will remain focused on the FY27 annual funding process, Congress' primary opportunity to meet its constitutional obligation to provide for the common defense.

"As we wait for full details of the FY27 budget request, Congress also stands ready for a request for supplemental appropriations, for which there is an urgent need to make credible down payments on critical munitions and multiyear contracts authorized by congress last year that were unnecessarily hamstrung by an insufficient defense topline. Ongoing conflicts have exacerbated these and other urgent military requirements, and the need to make these investments and recapitalize battlefield losses is urgent. There is spare capacity within industry to begin producing needed capabilities in the current fiscal year, and given the long timelines associated with producing modern weapon systems we should not wait as dangers gather.

"In the coming weeks, the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee will welcome candid testimony from leaders from the Department of Defense, the military services, and the intelligence community. The success of our efforts will depend on close cooperation and timely information sharing from department counterparts."

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