Contact: Caroline Rabbitt (202) 224-2353

Washington, D.C.- Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statement on President Obama's FY2017 Defense Budget:

"It's clear that seven years as Commander-in-Chief have taught President Obama little about what it takes to actually keep America safe and defend our place in the world. The budget he proposed today is ignorant and hypocritical. After spending months talking tough about taking on our enemies around the world, he wants to spend $10.3 billion less to sustain a military that is undergoing a manning, readiness, and modernization crisis. Once again his rhetoric doesn't match reality.

"The simple truth is that the American military has always been the best and the brightest. We were our enemies' worst nightmare and our allies' favorite friend. Unfortunately, President Obama's policies have made that no longer the case. A better path would be one that I outlined a year ago: to resource and build a military that is driven by our strategic interests and the threats we face. We should make investments in game-changing technologies that can offset the asymmetric capabilities of our adversaries and supplement those investments by maintaining a sizable, well-equipped force in the meantime.

"If President Obama isn't willing to do what it takes to provide for our common defense and protect our national security, Congress will. In the coming months I will work with my colleagues to stop the decline of our military readiness and protect our national security."