Roger Wicker Plan: Now May We Defend Ourselves?

Senator Roger Wicker has an urgent warning: America is at risk of losing a war with another great power. The Mississippi Republican, who sits as ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, paints a dark picture of the global threat landscape. Senior military leaders tell him that our under-resourced and overtaxed military is not prepared for the challenge. “We struggle to build and maintain ships, our fighter jet fleet is dangerously small, and our military infrastructure is outdated,” Wicker wrote in a widely circulated New York Times op-ed this week.

Wicker’s solution is a “generational investment in the U.S. military” that he calls “21st Century Peace Through Strength.” He would spend an additional $55 billion on defense in the coming fiscal year and raise overall defense spending from just under 3 percent of the U.S. economy to 5 percent by the end of this decade.

About the Author

Matthew Continetti

Matthew Continetti is director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism.

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Senator Roger Wicker has an urgent warning: America is at risk of losing a war with another great power. The Mississippi Republican, who sits as ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, paints a dark picture of the global threat landscape. Senior military leaders tell him that our under-resourced and overtaxed military is not prepared for the challenge. “We struggle to build and maintain ships, our fighter jet fleet is dangerously small, and our military infrastructure is outdated,” Wicker wrote in a widely circulated New York Times op-ed this week.

Wicker’s solution is a “generational investment in the U.S. military” that he calls “21st Century Peace Through Strength.” He would spend an additional $55 billion on defense in the coming fiscal year and raise overall defense spending from just under 3 percent of the U.S. economy to 5 percent by the end of this decade.

About the Author

Matthew Continetti

Matthew Continetti is director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism.