WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in response to reports about a potential 8 percent “cut” to defense spending directed by the Secretary of Defense:

“The Biden administration sent Congress four consecutive budgets with military cuts. It aggressively opposed bipartisan attempts to increase defense spending. On the way out the door, the Biden administration found religion and increased the 051 DOD request from $850 billion in FY25 to $926.5 billion in FY26.”

“Secretary Hegseth’s memo merely re-starts that process, allowing the new administration to review the entire budget. This process will enable the Secretary to offset needless and distracting programs – such as those focused on climate change and DEI – and direct focus on important warfighting priorities shared by the Congress. Moreover, the Biden administration ran a similar review for the FY22 process four years ago.”

“I have spoken with President Trump repeatedly, and he intends to deliver a desperately needed military rebuild and Pentagon reform agenda. This agenda requires significant real growth in the defense topline through the combination of reconciliation and annual spending.”

“As I have said before, the Department of Defense desperately needs to re-arm and reform simultaneously. New growth in defense spending should be allocated strategically, as I outline in my document, 21^st Century Peace Through Strength. And it must be paired with common-sense reforms, as I offer in another report called Restoring Freedom’s Forge. The Senate Armed Services Committee will work aggressively to achieve both goals in 2025.”