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McCain statement on budget agreement

Posted at 2:02 PM, Feb 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-07 16:02:13-05

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Representative Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, released the following statement today on the budget agreement:

"This budget agreement is indispensable for our national security. Without it, our military would not be able to defend our nation, as Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and our military leaders have repeatedly warned. Today's agreement will provide our men and women in uniform with the training, capabilities, and support they need to keep America safe and rise to all of the challenges that we ask of them.

"Congress's budget dysfunction has come at a real cost, and our military has borne the brunt of it. This budget agreement finally does what we knew needed to be done from the beginning and funds our military at the level authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act. After nearly a decade of asking our troops to do more with less, we hope this agreement will allow the military to begin to rebuild and ensure that process can continue into next year. But our work is far from over. While we have committed to a budget, we owe our troops an even greater commitment-not to slide back into dysfunction, not to hold their resources hostage to unrelated political concerns, and never send them into harm's way without everything they need to be successful. 

"Finally, we recognize that our national security is not solely the responsibility of our military. It also depends on our intelligence professionals, our diplomats, our law enforcement officers, first responders and homeland defenders. These Americans also have many worthy requirements for additional resources so they can do their jobs, often shoulder to shoulder with our men and women in uniform. We are hopeful that their needs will also be prioritized with the increased funds made available by today's budget agreement."