Prairie State Wire

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, today spoke on the Senate floor highlighting the need to avert a debt ceiling crisis so the United States remains a stable, global leader.  During his speech, Durbin addressed Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) call for even higher defense spending than what is specified in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bipartisan deal on the debt ceiling that was announced this week.  The deal fully funds the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the Department of Defense. 

“Specifically, the budget for the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2024 is $886 billion at a three percent rate of growth over the previous year.  That funding level does not threaten our national security.  We are still—and will be for the foreseeable future—the global leader on defense spending.  Now, there are valid concerns about China and Russia and the amount of money they’re spending on the military, especially with the war in Ukraine and aggression in the South China Sea…  When it comes to military spending in the year 2022, it [U.S. military spending] is dramatically larger than any other country.  In fact, when it comes to our defense budget, the United States continues to outspend the next 10 countries combined,” Durbin said. 

Durbin continued, “Finally, our spending goes toward maintaining a global presence, ensuring sea lanes are open to commerce, and fostering stability in key areas of the world.  Russia and China don’t have that priority, instead often focusing on aggression closer to their borders and exploiting other nations.” 

During his speech, Durbin stated that defense spending keeps increasing because of higher prices from defense companies and contractors. Durbin also noted that global security goes beyond military spending. 

“The conflicts of today and tomorrow are no longer fought just on a battlefield.  Technology has transformed warfare, from advanced platforms that can allow a single ship to perform what several ships did decades ago, to the mass dissemination of propaganda that disrupts democracies and downplays autocracies.  Climate change also will fuel future conflicts and instability.  To quote former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, ‘There are limits to what even the strongest and greatest nation on Earth can do—and not every outrage, act of aggression, oppression, or crisis should elicit a U.S. military response.’  An even bigger defense budget doesn’t equal complete security.  China knows this very well.  It is investing billions on spending related to national security outside of defense, infrastructure projects, clean energy, [and] artificial intelligence…  And it is [investing in] research to compete on cutting-edge technology.  My colleague [Graham] knows this because he supported the CHIPS and Science Act to precisely address this issue,” said Durbin. 

Durbin concluded, “Here’s the reality: the greater harm to national and global security is not perceived lower defense spending, but rather a default on our debt… Not paying our bills will result in a loss of trust in the stability in the United States.  That feeds right into Russia and China’s narrative that the West is now weak and they’re strong.  A short-term debt limit extension would not project strength or stability.  We have a responsibility in Congress to send a message of stability to the world.  The choice is simple for me, and I hope my colleagues can see the greater picture as well.”  

Video of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the floor is available here for TV Stations.  

Original source can be found here.