The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee has confirmed he will introduce an amendment to boost the defense topline by $55 billion during the panel’s markup next week of the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.
After unveiling his wide-ranging plan last week for a “generational investment” in defense, SASC Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said on Wednesday there is “really no time to waste” in beginning to consider his proposal.
“We can do so next week…when the Armed Services Committee in the Senate begins the NDAA markup – the National Defense Authorization Act. During our meetings, I will introduce an amendment to raise the level of this year’s defense investment significantly,” Wicker said during floor remarks on Wednesday. “My amendment will be an opportunity for the kind of debate for which this chamber is renowned. In considering national spending priorities, we have thought of ourselves as hamstrung by spending caps, but we simply have to dream bigger when it comes to our vital national security. I hope this debate will lead to a defense topline number that meets the moment.”
Wicker rolled out his defense investment plan last week, which calls for boosting the FY ‘25 defense topline by $55 billion and proposes increasing annual U.S. defense spending from around three percent up to five percent of the gross domestic product (Defense Daily, May 29).
“I recently introduced a detailed plan to rebuild American military might and restore our ability to deter threats. It would be a down payment for our future,” Wicker said on Wednesday. “And it would be expensive. Many worthwhile things are expensive. But it would be far less costly than war.”
The call to push the FY ‘25 defense topline up to nearly $950 billion would break with the one percent spending cap set by last year’s debt limit deal and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“This will enable the United States to fix our failing defense infrastructure, field a new generation of equipment, and maintain American technological leadership,” Wicker wrote in his plan released last week. “Ideally, devoting five percent of GDP to defense spending in the near future will not be necessary for very long, but it would certainly pay dividends far beyond five years. This defense buildup would set up the U.S. military for sustained success over the next two to three decades, as the Reagan-era buildup did in the 1980s. This program is a generational investment that will revive the U.S. military and put it on a stable path for the entirety of the 21st century.
SASC is set to hold a closed-door mark up of its version of the FY ‘25 NDAA on June 12 and 13.
Senate appropriators have also signaled an openness to potentially considering increases to the topline as well.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the Senate’s top defense appropriator, said earlier in May the Pentagon will require a “bigger number” for its FY ‘25 topline than the nearly $850 billion requested and cautioned the imposed spending cap could hinder modernization efforts (Defense Daily, May 8).
Meanwhile, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Appropriations Committee, has offered some support for exploring a potential defense topline boost, while reiterating she is “going to insist on parity for non-defense spending.”
House defense appropriators on Wednesday advanced their $833.1 billion FY ‘25 spending bill for consideration by the full committee next week, with their topline sticking to the spending cap (Defense Daily, June 5).
The House Armed Services Committee on May 22 advanced its $883.7 billion version of the FY ‘25 NDAA, which authorizes nearly $895 billion for national defense when factoring in items outside the panel’s jurisdiction, with the topline adhering to the one percent spending cap from last year’s debt limit deal (Defense Daily, May 23).