WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the highest-ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, today in a U.S. Senate floor speech called on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to immediately pass the U.S. Senate’s defense appropriations bill. Failing to do so, Senator Wicker said, would mean election year politics are Senator Schumer’s priority instead of bolstering our national security.

Senator Wicker took the opportunity to remind his colleagues of the important support the appropriations bill – as well as the National Defense Authorization Act – would provide toward improving military preparedness as the Axis of Aggressors increases its ability to challenge the United States.

Senator Wicker added that Senator Schumer’s dereliction of these bills would compel Congress to pass a continuing resolution, which would keep defense investment levels flat rather than meeting the moment.

Read the remarks as delivered below or watch them here.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I want to join my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, in expressing regret that we don't have the important national security business of this Congress before the Senate right now. And clearly, it's important to do a nomination and a confirmation every few days, and the election is approaching, and of course, there's some show votes. And I think, probably, my side of the aisle has engaged in that sort of thing in years past.

But it is such a shame that we face this ‘Axis of Aggressors’ like we've never faced in 50 years, and every national security official – whether a retired four-star, or someone who's no longer in service, but giving us good advice – come –  they come – before us, and they say we have never had such a threat from China, from Russia, which is engaged in a shooting war right now, having invaded the sovereign space of a next-door neighbor, from Iran, which is directing the three, at least the three, terrorist groups that are raining so much havoc on Israel, and then a very unstable leadership in North Korea.

This ‘Axis of Aggressors’ is signaling that they don't fear an invasion of Taiwan in three short years – they've said it publicly. And while all of that is going on, our leadership – the distinguished majority leader from New York – has not let us bring the appropriation bill to the floor, [he] has not let us bring the authorization bill, which we must pass. We must pass both of these bills every year, the two essential bills that cannot go without being taken care of every fiscal year.

And I will say to you, Mr. President, to my colleagues, and to others that are paying attention, this has been bipartisan. Absolutely, Senator Murray is correct. She's unhappy about this, too. But I point the finger to the one person on the face of the Earth that can actually bring a bill to the floor, and that's the majority leader.

Senator Reed, the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and I have been putting together a manager's package for this year's National Security [Defense] Authorization Act. It would have been much better had we brought the bill to the floor and had 100 amendments winnowed down and worked back and forth together, as we should be doing, to have open vote[s], so the people of the United States could see how senators from Maine to Mississippi, and to the West Coast to the East, stand on important issues affecting the United States military, but we have not been able to do that.

But we are working together – Senator Reed and I – on a plan and we've worked on nearly 100 variations to the legislation that was passed months and months ago by the Armed Services Committee to resolve issues of local and state interest, issues involving how quickly we can get our industrial base going to meet the need that, frankly, we're not meeting at the present time, and to get ahead of the game so we can prevent war. So we can have enough strength to have the Reagan-esque ‘peace through strength’ that we enjoyed in the 80s and early 90s.

The appropriation bills are just as important, if not more important than the authorization bills. They contain funding increases we need to prevent our Air Force from shrinking. We know that the Chinese Navy is expanding enormously, and our Navy is shrinking – literally shrinking, Mr. President. So, it's regrettable. Here we are we, [a] week-and-a-half to go, before we must break for the election. And the distinguished Majority Leader Senator Schumer has not brought any of this legislation before the full Senate – bills that have been ready since July.

And so – and also – I want to commend my colleague from Maine, the distinguished Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee, for accommodating the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. We had – I had – prepared today to come down here and support Senator Collins in an effort to have a unanimous consent request to bring the bill to the floor. I mean, what else are we doing? Look at us.

But in a matter of comity, and to continue the great working relationship that these two senior senators have had, Senator Collins refrained from that. And so, we're not asking for unanimous consent and requiring someone from the other side to come and object to that. And we'll continue to work.

But what is absolutely sure is that the fiscal year will begin in just a few days, and the appropriation for what we need to do at the Pentagon – what new things we need to do – will not be passed. And we will be stuck with last year's priorities.

And as a result, at a time when we need to be putting more resources into national security and sending new directions based on the new facts and the new challenges that are out there, at that time, we'll actually be wasting money of the taxpayers by having priorities still extended for another three months – hopefully, it's only three months – rather than putting the resources there that the experts tell us, and that we that we have learned are necessary for the next fiscal year.