Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, explained his budget proposal, published on FoxNews.com, which would put defense at the forefront of federal spending, during an appearance on "America's Newsroom" Monday.
"Two things have happened during the Obama years," Thornberry said. "The world has grown more dangerous and our own military has grown smaller and weaker. And we have to turn it around. Part of the way we turn it around is to reform the Pentagon and we've been working to buy weapons smarter, to reduce bureaucracies and streamline decision making. But the only way that we can add soldiers to the Army, put more ships in the Navy, replace old airplanes with new airplanes, is to spend more money."
He added that his Fox News article presents a plan for "next year's budget and how we can start to really make up some of this ground that we've lost."
Thornberry's budget proposal includes $15 billion to "rebuild" the Army, just under $14 billion to repair and restore the Navy, and almost $11 billion to replace military equipment and to "begin making up for military training missed over the last four years."
The Texas congressman added during his interview that the "first job of the federal government is to defend the country."
"Most people don't realize that if you add all the military intelligence funding together it is still only 16 percent of the federal budget," he continued. "So we need to make sure we spend that money smarter, absolutely. But there is no substitute for building ships, replacing old airplanes, putting more people in the Army because that's the first job of the federal government and that's what we have to focus on."
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