<[link removed]>

I hope you saw my latest weekly column.

 

ROGER WICKER: Biden Plan Would Appease Dictators While Indulging Socialism
<[link removed]>

 

If there was ever a moment for presidential leadership, it is now. Ukraine is
engulfed in a bitter war with Russia, gas prices are soaring, and inflation is
holding back our full economic recovery. Unfortunately, President Biden’s new
budget proposal totally fails to meet these priorities. His plan would cut our
military strength at a time of international crisis. It would also impose
job-killing tax hikes that Congress has already rejected on a bipartisan basis.

Biden Plan Would Weaken the Navy

President Biden’s budget would increase military spending by four percent.
Although this sounds positive, it would amount to a substantial cut when
adjusting for 7.9 percent inflation. This is simply unacceptable at a time when
war is breaking out in Europe and American security is being challenged
globally. The President’s plan would fall especially hard on our Navy fleet,
which has been underfunded for years and is now outnumbered by China’s. With
additional threats emerging from Russia and Iran, the Navy needs a concerted
shipbuilding effort with strong and consistent funding.

President Biden’s budget fails to meet this critical need. His proposal would
build only nine ships next year while retiring 24. Instead of building the Navy
needed to secure peace, it would direct money toward “climate change”
initiatives that would do little for the environment. This is exactly the wrong
message to send the world’s dictators, who are currently on the move in part
because they sense American weakness.

Recently I questioned President Biden’s top defense leaders before the Senate
Armed Services Committee. I pushed them to provide Congress with a long-overdue
30-year shipbuilding plan and a study on amphibious ships, which they said will
be ready in a few weeks. I will be closely assessing those proposals to see if
they match the Navy’s needs.

Failure to Support Eastern Europe

With Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, we have entered the most
dangerous period in world affairs since the height of the Cold War. Congress
recently approved $14 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but
supplies are not moving into Ukrainian hands fast enough because of
bureaucratic delays – something I am urging Biden’s officials to fix. President
Biden has also deployed several thousand troops to NATO countries. Yet his
budget fails to keep up with this commitment. His proposal would keep Army
funding essentially flat. It would also scrap a sea-launched missile program,
which is important to maintaining our nuclear deterrent.

This is not a serious defense budget aimed at securing peace through strength.
In the coming weeks, I will be pushing Congress to assert its constitutional
power of the purse to make sure our security needs are met.

Worst Time for Tax Hikes

In addition to weakening our military, President Biden’s budget includes a
list of tax hikes that have already met bipartisan opposition in Congress. His
plan would impose $2.5 trillion in new taxes, ignoring the fact that tax
revenue is already at a 50-year high. It would also raise taxes on job creators
from 21 percent to 28 percent. This would shrink the economy and eliminate over
138,000 jobs, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. The President is
even proposing a socialist tax on wealth, something he refused to support when
he was running against far-left Senator Bernie Sanders. As the budget process
moves forward, Republicans will continue fighting to defeat these harmful tax
hikes and provide our military the resources it needs to keep us safe.

 

You can click here to share my Op-Ed with your friends on Facebook!
<[link removed]>

 

Thank you for your support,

Senator Roger Wicker

 

 


Donate
<[link removed]>
Please mail contributions to P.O. Box 64, Jackson, MS 39205.


Paid for by Wicker for Senate


You can also keep up with Roger Wicker on Twitter
<[link removed]> or Facebook.
<[link removed]>


Don't want to receive our emails anymore? Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>