Posted on 02/16/2016 12:00:37 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz laid out his vision for bolstering the U.S. military on an aircraft carrier in South Carolina Tuesday, vowing to rebuild the military so "it will be feared by our enemies and trusted by our allies."
In a nod to South Carolina's sizeable military and veteran population, Cruz said he would model his approach to the military on that of former President Ronald Reagan. He did not put a price tag on the expansion he envisioned, but said he would pay for it by cutting federal spending by at least $500 billion, selling federal assets and properties and auditing the Pentagon to find savings.
"If you think it's too expensive to defend this nation, try not defending it," Cruz said. "This will be a challenge and involve difficult choices."
Speaking in front of a World War II Navy dive bomber inside the U.S.S. Yorktown, Cruz called for increasing the number of active duty troops, airplanes and fighting ships. He also called for expanding the Air Force to include at least 6,000 airplanes, up from 4,000, and to increase the number of battleships from 273 to at least 350.
"It is time for America to once again prioritize a strong, advanced and robust military," he said. "We will not go picking fights around the globe. The purpose of this rebuilt military is not to intervene in every conflict and engage in expensive and protracted exercises in nation building in countries who have scant interests in the institutions we want to impose on them."
The Obama administration has reshaped the military, shrinking it and emphasizing what it considers to be new-era capabilities that are better suited for the range of conflicts the U.S. is facing, including cyberwarfare and special operations missions....
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcdfw.com ...
More details on his plan, if any, to slash the government agencies and reducing those that are most harmful to the economy.
What would, or could, he do the insure that the Supreme Court adheres to the constitution, or that those who do not believe in the Constitution are sent packing?
Will the tax code and the repulsive IRS be decimated under a Cruz administration?
And another FR Thread [ABC News].
Oh, and another concern: will he send the invaders back over the border? And will he rein in the damned Muslims and send most of them back to the sand dunes?
Dear “Conservatives”,
WAKE up. We are broke. The era when we can have sacred cows in the budget like endless Defense spending is over.
Promising defense contractors blank checks is pandering, not leadership.
All the military might in the world is useless if you do not have the economic might to back it up. We MUST put our fiscal house in order rather then continue to promise every special interest group their their particular rice bowl is special and untouchable
EVERYTHING must be on the fiscal cutting table to put our house in order.
“increase the number of battleships from 273 to at least 350.”
He’s bringing back battleships. Either that or the reporter figured no one would know the difference.
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/rein-in-washington/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/restore-the-constitution/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/second-amendment-rights/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/secure-the-border/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/defend-our-nation/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/stand-with-israel/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/religious-liberty/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/life-marriage-and-family/
https://www.tedcruz.org/issues/jobs-and-opportunity/
He has already said he would, on numerous occasions!
https://www.tedcruz.org/american-resolve/
“................China and Russia continue to develop and deploy increasingly advanced maritime fleets. While their navies are rapidly expanding the ability to project power offshore, we have reduced the number of operational aircraft carriers, the centerpiece of our naval forces, to just 10. America’s ability to effectively deter our adversaries, but rapidly and overwhelmingly project power in multiple theaters when needed, requires a commitment to 12 carrier strike groups. The United States must significantly increase the number of ships to at least 350, with an appropriate mix of large and small, surface and subsurface combatants that ensures we can counter our adversary’s anti-access/area denial strategies.
Once access into our adversary’s littoral region is accomplished we need the ability to project that power ashore; the U.S. Marine Corps must be provided sufficient sea and air lift capacity to conduct large-scale amphibious and air assault operations in a contested environment. The Marines are our first responders, the first to fight, in times of crisis. We need to reverse the cuts to the manpower of the Marines. I will commit to you this - I will not simply bow down to political correctness; I will also review the Marine Corps’ request for exemption from the policy of requiring women to serve in combat positions.”..............
In October 2006, the last battleships, (USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin), were stricken from the Naval Registry.
Where does he think we have 273 battleships right now? does he even know what ships the Navy has?
I read he paper. I was in the Navy for 24 years and I don’t think he should be using “battleships”. In fact, as a person who didn’t even do boot camp, Cruz should use appropriate language.
Ted Cruz didn’t say “battleship.”
I’ve given you the link to Cruz’s site and his strategy.
The article uses the term “battleship,” not Cruz.
If you refuse to understand that, you’re spamming the thread.
I agree, there needs to be more responsibility, one of the methods of appropriation I have heard of is that a department we will take the FBI for the example, is given 1 billion dollars. Now the FBI is told that to keep that level of funding they have to spend it all, and whatever they don’t spend is cut from the budget request for next year. So if they only need to spend 500,000,000 for that fiscal year they lose the remaining half a billion dollars in their funding, unless they spend it. Which is where we get the whole corporate retreats, gilligan’s island parody, among many others.
Now My thought would be we take that same FBI budget and let them keep what ever is left over, for next years budget. When they run out of money or need more they turn the books over to congress, who audits them and makes a decision on how much and on what they can spend. If you have people blowing through money, congress could find them and if we had a president who cared he would then fire them. This way over a period of years you could hopefully put the budget under control.
I take the Navy seriously. Ted Cruz needs to get it straightened out. Sorry if you don’t care, but I do. Again it is his staff or campaign screwing up again.
Its just like the press reporting that all guns are AK-47s, or using the word clips, with semi-autos when it should be called a magazine.
I had a high level of expectation that Cruz would do more than that.
He needs to state that he will totally end the Women-In-Combat policy and eliminate all of the other political correctness Obama has forced on the military.
Especially the homosexual culture that Obama has planted throughout the services.
It is far past time to restore the policy of forbidding homosexualism and homosexual rape as well as homosexual based sexual preferences and sexual inmtinmidation.
And institute a policy of instant discharge of all single females who get pregnant.
While Cruz is at it he should get NASA back to concentrating on aeronautics and space and let citizen Barack Obama do his own muslim outreach.
I am always glad if someone wants to support and bolster our military. I don’t care who says it!
You're being cute, so I'll play.
Show me where Cruz or his staff used the term "battleship."
An executive summary is recommended. He should ask one of his military advisors why that’s important.
Quick thoughts:
525k is a nice number, but talk more details please. At least break down proposed division counts.
350 ships is a nice number as well, but the amorphous mix leaves me wondering more than what it told me. ‘An appropriate mix’ leaves a lot of room for interpretation.
Good start. I’d prefer less fluff and more detail, but to be fair, most of the white papers from most politicians leave me feeling that way.
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