Rep. Pat Harrigan Warns U.S. Is Falling Behind Adversaries in Defense Spending

EXCERPT:

HARRIGAN: “Look, I think that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have been very clear, the United States of America needs to match the threats of our adversaries to the capabilities that we develop here at home and deploy abroad. And so I think that this is a necessary response to some of the emerging technology that's coming out that threatens us here in the homeland. And so I think that they're doing what's prudent. When you talk about overall defense spending, I think Americans need to step back and realize our place in history right now. And that is that our debt-to-GDP ratio has never been higher since World War II and simultaneously our defense spending has never been lower since World War II as a percentage of GDP. Right now we are spending 2.9 percent of our GDP on defense. China right now is at 7. And Russia, while it has built a raging war economy, is actually running an annual surplus every year. We are behind our adversaries and we have got to catch up.”